Episode spoilers.
Easy Company's flight into Normandy breaks apart under German fire. Aircraft explode, crews lose their bearings and paratroopers jump far from their intended landing areas. Richard Winters reaches the ground separated from his men and missing equipment. He begins gathering the soldiers he can find, including men from other units, while trying to work out where they have landed. The company cannot carry out its plan as a complete force, and the loss of Lieutenant Meehan's aircraft leaves Winters taking responsibility for the scattered survivors.
Bill Guarnere has learned that his brother has been killed and is hostile towards the Germans. His impatience also brings him into conflict with Winters, whose calm orders do not immediately earn his trust. Elsewhere, Malarkey encounters a German prisoner, and gunshots later prompt questions about what Lieutenant Speirs has done to prisoners nearby. Malarkey does not see enough to establish what happened. The episode leaves the incident uncertain, even as Speirs joins the fighting and makes a forceful impression on the other soldiers.
Winters leads a small group against the German artillery at Brecourt Manor. The men attack the gun positions despite their reduced numbers, and Popeye Wynn is wounded during the assault. Speirs helps take the final gun. After fighting together, Guarnere and Winters show a new respect for each other. With the first day behind him, Winters prays that he will survive the next one and imagines a peaceful life if he gets home.