John is still keeping his head above water at the farm by milking his cows by hand, but Berts money is running out. There is tension in the Middleton marriage as Grace finds herself attracted to Bill, the local Labour candidate.
Grace and John continue to fall out over everything. John has constructed a mobile milking machine that turns his farm into a booming success, especially when Rutter's cos contract TB so John has the monopoly on milk production.
Joe's brief leave from the Front has come to an end. He has tried hard to conceal his shell-shock from the family, but Grace knows that something is badly wrong.
March 1916. Conscription is introduced for the first time in British history. Call up papers are delivered throughout the village, and soldiers arrive at the Middleton farm to requisition Bert's beloved horse, Big Molly.
1st July 1916. The date of the Rondo: an annual wheel barrow race on the cricket field, and unbeknownst to the villagers, the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
