The novel now shifts to the point of view of Kara, a young British girl. She is awoken during the night when German ships start bombing her small fishing town. She and her mother try to find shelter but soon encounter injured people in the street. Kara’s mother is a nurse and immediately offers her help. Kara admires her mother’s work and remembers that her father, who died a hero, asked her to help with the war effort, so Kara helps a woman who sprained her ankle get to safety. After the bombing stops, Kara’s mother tells her that the Red Cross has offered her a position as a nurse on one of the ambulance trains bringing injured soldiers home. Kara is immediately taken by the idea of joining her mother on the train and decides to join also, helping her as an orderly.

At the station, Kara waits impatiently for the ambulance train, while her mother tries to warn her of the horrors they are about to face. When the train arrives and hundreds of wounded are unloaded on stretchers, Kara starts to doubt her decision. An officer named Corporal Bryant gives them an overview of the train’s organization, then asks Kara to take her and her mother’s bags to their bunks.