Compo is selected to travel to France with a group of local WWII veterans, only to have the offer withdrawn when the organisers realize how scruffy he looks. The local ladies take pity on him and collect enough money for him to go, and Truly and Clegg join him for the trip.

Meanwhile, Edie's long-estranged sister Ros shows up in town, ready to make amends with Edie and possibly settle down again. Edie, angry at her for leaving her husband and devastating their mother, isn't interested in reconnecting. In France, the trio has two goals: to release Billy Hardcastle's homing pigeon and to revisit a spot Compo and some of his fellow soldiers camped overnight after a gruelling escape from the Germans. There's just one snag: Compo doesn't remember where it is.

Wesley has a "go anywhere" coffee vending machine, which is successful at first, but after trying it at the ladies' Jumble Sale and the Golf Course it finally blows up, which is a huge embarrassment for Barry, who is trying to be on the captain's good side, like Petal said after she gave him a palm reading. Before, Glenda rang Barry right when the golf captain was about to make a shot, which made him angry.

Smiler pretends to be an intellectual in an attempt to enchant Marina. Howard, a simple thinker, wants to keep an eye on them at the poetry group without being seen so, foolishly, he goes along with Truly's idea.