Rigby's grandfather, Gilbert, has wandered from home and is roaming the Yorkshire countryside in distress. Finding an old map in his grandfather's home, peculiarly annotated and marked by his grandfather, Rigby begins to realise that it duplicates Normandy: the marked sites mirror places in another place and other time - the days following the Normandy landings in 1944.

He is drawn down an elusive trail into the past, hunting old memories and new truths to the heart of his grandfather's youth in the raw days of the War. It shakes the very foundations of Rigby's own young life, and as he discovers the secret about another soldier - the quest becomes an inner journey for Rigby. He learns of the feelings of young men caught in the terrors and misery of the battlefield, and the impact of their lives on generations to come.