When Gen. Savage's plane is shot down by a German Trojan horse (a captured B-17) pretending to be a straggler, Joe Gallagher, by now a colonel, takes over temporary command of the 918th. As a reluctant candidate for permanent status, he must face the withering scrutiny of General Britt, as well as his own feelings of inadequacy. As if that's not enough to handle, he also has to deal with Sgt. Komansky, a resentful and defiant former member of Savage's crew, and a burgeoning romance with Mlle. Arnais, a French journalist. And that dreaded Trojan horse is still lurking out there, triggering dangerous suspicion and ready to claim another unsuspecting victim.