When Kelly and Max, two 13-year olds from widely different social backgrounds, form an unlikely alliance and take off in Max's father's Ferrari for an illegal trip to Brighton. On the way they discover more about life and each other than they had bargained for.

A young boy dies after swimming at a seaside resort, and the local children, led by Gavin, investigate and are led to suspect that contamination from a nearby nuclear plant is to blame. Their teacher is sympathetic, but has broken into her house, perhaps as a warning. Gavin is nearly killed after talking about the problem on TV, but gradually all is uncovered - with terrible consequences for Gavin.

An Indian summer, 1942: "When I was thirteen, all I wanted to be was a hero." A young evacuee's response to the surrounding war-obsessed adult world seems the only one available to him, until he forms 'a particular friendship' with another boy, a Jewish refugee. This threatens the stability of his gang (who also mirror the racist/jingoist attitudes of adulthood), and he is caught in Forster's great liberal crux: your country or your friend?