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In September 1942, fighter pilot Jimmy Briggs is shot down over France. Hiding in a village school, he overhears a discussion between resistance worker Ann-Marie Poitiers, codename 'Nina', who has fled from Paris after the resistance meeting she was attending to act as interpreter was broken up, and the local resistance led by codename 'Vincent'. Vincent's instinct is to shoot Nina as a security risk, and, doubting his story, Jimmy as a probable German infiltrator. His radio operator, Robespierre, is unhappy with this and seeks advice from London, who give orders to return Jimmy and Nina to Britain. With the Germans already starting to search the village, Jimmy, Nina and Vincent are able to escape.

Some win. Some lose. The extraction date has arrived, but how will they get there? What role will Abwehr Sergeant Gratz play? Is he loyal to the fatherland, or to Nina?

Travelling on foot across country, Nina splits away and is helped by a local farmer. He is suspicious of Jimmy when he calls, however, and deliberately misleads him, setting Jimmy and Vincent in the wrong direction. After killing Goffre, a member of the Vichy French Milice, Jimmy and Vincent are captured by the local communist resistance, led by Louis Sampere, who have also found Nina and the farmer. Although initially suspicious of all three, and particularly Jimmy and Vincent, their true identities are eventually established and they are sent on their way.

The three arrive in the grounds of Vincent's family château, part of which is being used by General von Trenow as the headquarters of a German division, where they are helped by the estate's gamekeeper, Franco. SS Obersturmbanfuhrer Lutzig has arrived to co-ordinate a search for the three, unimpressed by the attitude both of the army and the local police, and has Franco - who is something of a local hot head - shot as an example to the local population.

Vincent, Jimmy and Nina are able to hide in an unused room on the top floor of the family château and are helped by the housekeeper, Hortense, although Vincent is unable to see his mother, the Countess, who still lives there. The search of the local area is continuing, without success, and the SS arrive in force to take the château over completely, ordering the evacuation of all the remaining French staff. Vincent and Jimmy are able to smuggle Nina out among the staff, and get on their way.

Waiting for a rendezvous with a local contact, Hector Melun, who is to help them into the unoccupied zone of France in his van, Nina accidentally drops her identity papers. These are spotted by two members of the Milice on patrol while Vincent, Jimmy and Nina are still hiding nearby. The two Milice become suspicious, and Vincent has to shoot them, but their bodies are later found by a German patrol, who soon get on the trail of the van and find Melun. Vincent is suspicious of the increased German activity in the area, and begins to suspect Nina of laying a trail for them to be found, but it turns out that it is merely the German occupation of the whole of France.

The three arrive late at night at a safe house where they are expecting to receive help, but instead find it empty and apparently abandoned in a hurry. Vincent becomes suspicious of Jimmy, insisting he hand over his identity discs to prevent him from taking the easy way out of handing himself in as a shot-down airman; Nina secretly removes them from his pocket. Jimmy goes outside to have a look around, Nina and Vincent hear shooting from the town and are preparing to leave when Jimmy returns, warning them that the Germans are starting to search house-to-house and they must quickly leave.

Vincent leaves Jimmy and Nina at an abandoned toll-house to go and contact a cousin living nearby, Louis, who is, in fact, now a senior officer in the local French police. Anxious to avoid accusations of collaboration after the war, he helps Vincent and also passes a message to the local resistance who are able to find Jimmy and Nina. All three are reunited in the care of the resistance, led by Doctor Devalle and the local undertaker, Monsieur Simon. They are able to arrange a rescue flight to pick up Nina and Jimmy, but at the last minute this is called off due to bad weather.

At Christmas 1942, on the way to Limoges, the three arrive at the country house of a prewar friend of Vincent, Paul Menard. Although now a senior member of the region's Vichy administration, having kept the right-wing views which he and Vincent shared as students, he offers to help them.

Arriving at a café in Limoges owned by Emile, Vincent, Jimmy and Nina are given identities which will enable them to work in a local armaments factory - they can then be smuggled out on a freight train. Lutzig, and Sergeant Gratz of the Abwehr who he is being forced to work with, suspect they are in the area and get on their trail after questioning the café owner, who Gratz has long been suspicious of. Realising that a shipment from the factory could be used as an escape route, Gratz has Emile released knowing that he will telephone there to warn his contact. This leads Lutzig and Gratz to Nina, although Vincent and Jimmy had already been able to escape from the factory.

At the bar in Bordeaux where they now work, Adelaide tells Lutzig of a meeting of resistance leaders from across the country that is due to be held; Vincent and Jimmy are contacted by a waitress there, Francine, who works for the local resistance, led by Pierre Allard. Vincent discovers what Adelaide has done, and with Jimmy goes to the warehouse where the meeting is to be held to warn those attending. They find the building empty, though, and - too late to escape - are telephoned by Allard to warn them the SS is surrounding the building. Vincent holds off the Germans while Jimmy escapes across the rooftops, after he has persuaded Jimmy to shoot him should he be taken alive.

Nina receives a message to go to the Church of St Xavier where she will meet Adelaide, but instead once there the SS burst in and shoot the priest, Father DuBois, and take Nina and Adelaide. Under interrogation, Adelaide holds her nerve but Nina breaks down and implicates Adelaide. It is, however, just a test of their true loyalties arranged by Allard - their interrogator is Anton, of the resistance, and DuBois had been shot for collaboration. Gratz has become concerned by Nina's absence and the confusing reports of the incident at the church, but finds Nina back safely at the club with Adelaide. Not fooled by their innocent explanation of spending the day together, he takes Nina back with him.

Gratz tries to trick British Intelligence by using a captured transmitter and British agent, but will his plan backfire?

Under cover of an air raid, and with the help of French resistance fighters, Jimmy and Vincent lead a daring raid of the factory housing the Germans' secret air weapon.

Gratz captures SOE agent David Mainwaring, codename 'Cadet', being landed on the coast - staging a dummy parachute drop to successfully distract the SS, but in doing so further antagonising them, as they suspect his actions. Gratz willingly gives the details of Cadet's capture to Nina, allowing her to pass it to the resistance and claim she has obtained it surreptitiously. Cadet is deliberately allowed to escape by Gratz, and hide in his flat, to be able to give details of his mission to Nina: Cadet wants Nina to then give a false message back to Gratz, but is unsure if he can rely on her.

Gratz hides Cadet in his flat, both from the SS attempting a house to house search and his own CO, Colonel Reichwein, who now has his own doubts about Gratz. Cadet plans to leave and take Nina with him, but realises this will be impossible when Gratz deliberately lets slip that Nina knows vital information, and the SS is on the alert for any escape of hers. Cadet attempts to kill Nina instead, but merely reveals his intentions - the gun he uses is unloaded; getting into a struggle with Gratz, he is then killed himself by Nina.

The SS has Abwehr Sergeant Gratz in custody, but how to get information from the man who hates the SS? We are introduced to a new character that many may have been wondering about.

We find more interrogation of Abwehr Sergeant Gratz, and the three protagonists finally receive extraction instructions. Will all three of them make it? Will any of them?

A Gestapo agent in the metalworks terrorises Jimmy, but will he reveal his identity?

Francine is able to hide Jimmy back at her house. Her mother is out, but Jimmy is discovered by her younger brother, Philippe, who is in the Vichy youth movement and sees it as his duty to report Jimmy; he doesn't though when persuaded that this would also mean betraying his own family. Pierre Allard arrives with plans to smuggle Jimmy out on a neutral Swedish freighter, using as an intermediary his freelance contact Adelaide. Adelaide, though, from her contacts with the Germans, knows that Vincent is still alive, and that Nina is living in Bordeaux with Gratz. Jimmy persuades her to show him where, hoping to rescue Nina.

Being captured, Vincent is pressured by the Germans to give up his friends. This pressure takes many forms, some quite unpleasant, some seemingly civilized. Even one of his old college buddies is involved in the scheme. In the end, does he succumb to the coercion and betray his comrades?

The three arrive in Angouleme and are hidden at the bar Le Lapin Bouleverese by Michel the owner, with Nina posing as a waitress, Jimmy a cleaner, and Vincent as pianist accompanying the club's singer, Adelaide. Lutzig boasts of having a well-placed contact in the area - which appears to be Adelaide. He fails to spot Nina at the bar, but Gratz does - asking her to meet him later, when he warns her not to go back but instead stay with him for safety. Adelaide leaves for Bordeaux, asking Vincent and Jimmy to go with her, after which Lutzig raids the bar, killing Michel. Gratz, meanwhile, is also going to Bordeaux, taking Nina with him.

Gratz has, for reasons of his own but to Lutzig's dismay, released Nina. Together with Vincent and Jimmy she is hidden in the town of Boiziers by Doctor Moussac and his wife. Lutzig, though, is on their trail: he has the town sealed off and takes three hostages - including the mayor, Jean Pierre LaSalle - as hostages for their surrender. Doctor Moussac is able to smuggle the three out, hiding Jimmy in his car and claiming Nina - accompanied by her 'husband' Vincent - requires urgent hospital treatment, and the deadline for their surrender passes leaving the hostages to their fate.

Two of the three protagonists attempt to escape Bordeaux via train. Various characters on the train provide challenges, and a hidden item in luggage proves useful.

Jimmy has had to return to Adelaide's club without seeing Nina, and is caught there without identity papers in a Gestapo check. Adelaide vouches for him as a relative, a distressed seaman whose ship has been sunk, and he is drafted to work in the nearby Famechon Metal Works. Jimmy stages a distraction there to get the opportunity to sneak into the restricted research area, but in doing so two French workers are caught and shot. Jimmy has gained the confidence of Hochler, the Gestapo chief, but the enmity of the resistance; only with difficulty is he able to persuade them of the importance of gaining more information on the factory's activities.