At last, after a long separation, our friends return home. Their hometown greets them unkindly. Empty streets, windows sealed crosswise, inscriptions: “Bomb shelter” on the basements of houses. So this terrible war has reached here too. It spared neither the boys’ small peaceful town. But they must keep living, and try to help the adults in the common cause now for everyone—the fight against the fascists. And of course, they must keep studying, because ahead is a new school year and the fifth grade.