The story of Goodnight Mister Tom is set during the dark and dangerous build-up to the Second World War and the early years of the war itself. In the autumn of 1939, William Beech, a sad, introverted little boy, is evacuated from his unhappy home in Deptford to the idyllic English countryside in the West Country. He is billeted on an elderly recluse named Tom Oakley and, after a rocky start, a remarkable and moving friendship develops between them. But William’s new happiness is shattered when he’s summoned back to London by his mother…