In a town called Poperinghe, during the height of the German offensive in May 1918, quartermaster-sergeant, Derek Vane, watches with mixed feelings as a pilot and his observer are shot down. What is there left for this ghost town, ravaged by war and utterly devastated? This penetrating story, which takes us through to the end of the war and charts the diverse experiences of soldiers and their loved-ones, was written by a man who experienced it all.