Gary, Jacko, Charlie and Adam have completed their latest tour of duty in Afghanistan and arrive at the aircraft hangar ready to be taken home, only to be told their flight has already left. Faced with waiting another 12 hours in a hot, cramped hangar, Gary decides to try and bribe his way onto an earlier flight using a pretty uninspiring collection of belongings from the boys. He's been turned down by the RAF as well as most of the squaddies in the hangar until finally he meets Cammy, a squaddie with an impeccable sales pitch and an offer Gary mistakenly thinks is too good to be true.

Following a prank that went wrong, Sergeant Thomson takes a brief break from his day off to punish Gary and the boys by putting them on kitchen duty for the Captain's important dinner. Chef works hard to keep them under control while also trying to create a dinner good enough to impress Colonel Fanshaw, the Captain's father. But when an inebriated Thomson returns to wreak havoc in the kitchen, it's left to Gary to ensure that the dinner is a success and the Captain isn't embarrassed in front of 'Colonel Daddy'.