Years after World War II a severely wounded veteran turned recluse still struggles with readjustment. He is aided by an improbable friendship with two neighbor children who, without knowing it, begin to draw him out of his self-imposed isolation. Meanwhile, members of a San Francisco criminal gang plot to steal the veteran's collection of high-end watches. Their threat endangers the veteran and the lives of his new friends and local VFW members who have offered to help the veteran prepare for the assault.