Dash and Adam respond to a report of vandalism at the train yards, and discover a couple of young offenders - one so fleet of foot that he's even faster than Dash. She thinks she knows the boy, Jed Russell, and discovers from his mother that Jed's been living with his father, Jim. Jim is at the pub when Adam and Dash find him , and seems unconcerned about his son's actions.
When a more serious incident happens at the trainyard, PJ becomes involved, and Jed Russell is the prime suspect in the case. Jim is brought in because Jed is underage, and during the questioning takes loud umbrage at PJs tactics. His shouting alerts Tom, who recognises a fellow Vietnam Veteran in trouble, and decides to help in any way he can.
Jim has a lot of trouble caring for his son because of his own problems coming to terms with the war. He's been writing everything down, hoping it would help, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Jed sees Jim as a loser, someone who didn't even fight in the war - he was just a mechanic, and this makes things between them difficult. Tom tries vallantly to make Jim see that he has to try and help his son - not just think of himself.
PJ discovers that the trouble at the railyard is due to a territory war between two gangs - Jed Russell being the leader of one, and a Vietnamese boy, Vinnie Nguyen, the leader of their rivals. Tom sees this as a perpetuation of old hatreds, and decides to stop their war. The boys had organised to race the train - a dangerous stunt - to see who got the railway as their territory. Tom takes Jim with him, but things go horribly wrong when Jed is caught on the railway tracks, and Jim rescues him - sacrificing himself in the process.
Jed, with Tom's help, begins to see his father as the hero he was, a man who fought in a war he didn't ask to be a part of, in a place he never should have been.
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