The story takes place in London during the height of the "Battle of Britain" when the Luftwaffe was bombing the populace. Joan Warrock's home has been bombed. She meets an American Air Force gunner, Buster Menton, in the blackout-darkened streets shortly afterwards and he takes her to an afterhour "pub" to calm her nerves. It isn't until the evening is over that she realizes there has been something strange about the place and about Buster. Her thoughts return to the party in the bombed building and she dreads all the future bombing that will come, until Menton convinces her that he knows that she has nothing to worry about in the future.