A Day to Remember

The Hand & Flower pub darts team gather for a final drink the night before their day trip. Percy, a travel agent among them, has organized the excursion to Boulogne in France. The mood mixes excitement with nerves as they anticipate new experiences abroad.

The group meets at London Victoria to begin their journey. They travel by boat train to Folkestone and then cross the Channel by ferry to Boulogne. The voyage blends camaraderie with a tinge of adventure and the usual holiday daydreams.

After landing in Boulogne, Jim slips away from the others to wander near the area where British troops fought in 1944. He seeks a soldier’s memory and a quiet moment away from the holiday crowd. The excursion begins to reveal personal tensions amid the war’s echoes.

In Boulogne, the florists refuse to accept Jim’s money for flowers for his comrade’s grave. He carries the bouquet to a cemetery and pays his respects, the past casting a shadow over the present.

Jim meets Martine at a local farm; she recognises him from years ago and invites him to lunch with her family, who remember him too. They quickly share a spark and chemistry that contrasts with his tense engagement back home. The encounter hints at a growing, forbidden connection.

Martine reveals she is engaged to a local lawyer who is poised for a prestigious partnership in Paris. The news complicates Jim’s feelings and places a barrier between potential romance and reality. The tension between duty and desire becomes a central thread of the day.

Back in town, the rest of the group enjoys lunch in a cafe and then splits up to tour Boulogne’s sights. They follow their own impulses, weaving through markets, streets, and temporary adventures. The day’s lighthearted tone begins to shift as personal dramas emerge.

Stan heads off to collect his black-market watches, chasing a quick profit. The pursuit introduces a legal and moral edge to the otherwise carefree excursion. His actions contrast with the more intimate bonds forming among the group.

Shorty, irked by his nickname and its constant reminder, drinks in a bar and ends up joining the French Foreign Legion. Charley makes futile attempts to stop him as the day’s chaos deepens. The decision marks a drastic turn away from the planned trip.

Fred is enticed by a young woman into a bar, where he buys champagne and dances. Charley catches him in the moment, leaving Fred embarrassed and the group amused. The evening mood becomes more precarious amid flirtations and distractions.

Percy becomes violently homesick, yearning for a cup of tea from home. The longing underscores the gap between leisure and longing for comfort. His mood drags the pace of the day into a more melancholic note.

Reassembling, the group attempts to retrieve Shorty from the Foreign Legion, but their efforts are in vain. They drift toward the docks, preparing for the return trip, while wondering what has become of Jim, who has vanished for the day. The day edges toward uncertainty rather than celebration.

Stan spots a policeman approaching about the watches and, thinking he knows what’s at issue, tosses the watches into the water. His real motive is to recover a passport he left at customs, not to dispose of the watches. The moment cements the day’s mix of misjudgments and flawed plans.

Jim has fallen in love with Martine, but they argue over whether they can be together. He heads for the docks while Martine hurries to rejoin her fiancé, each pursuing a different future. The lovers’ dilemma intensifies as night approaches.

Back in London, Jim’s fiancée begins a new romance with an American serviceman on a blind date. As Jim’s ship leaves Boulogne, Martine proclaims her true feelings for him, and they vow to meet again when he returns to France. The film closes on a note of possible reunion, tempered by distance and wartime shadows.