Lt. Bolen returns to the 918th after escaping from a German prison camp where he was brutally interrogated by the Nazi SS for five months. Despite being given the opportunity to return to the States due to his ordeal, he insists on returning to active duty as a pilot and is promoted to the rank of Captain. He also has valuable information about a target that the Allies keep missing, and so he is included in a risky mission to pinpoint the plant for the rest of the Group. While training for the mission, however, the psychological damage from his torture contributes to a midair collision that kills the crew of another bomber and members of his own crew. The guilt of his actions combined with the emotional scars from his internment threaten to destroy his sanity and gravely endanger the vital mission.