Spoilers for this episode.
David Webster returns to Easy Company at Haguenau after months in hospital. He expects to rejoin familiar comrades, but the men who survived Bastogne resent his absence and show little interest in welcoming him. Liebgott rejects his attempts at conversation, while Malarkey's exhaustion makes the changes particularly plain. Webster has missed both their losses and the experience that now holds them together. Lieutenant Jones arrives from West Point with the opposite problem: he wants combat experience before the war ends. The experienced men around him are more concerned with staying alive, despite the relative comforts of beds and hot showers.
Orders send a patrol across the river to capture German prisoners. Jones joins the mission but recognises that his rank does not replace the experience of the men carrying it out. The patrol returns with two prisoners, yet the apparent success costs Jackson his life after a grenade blast. His suffering gives the men another reason to dread a repeat crossing. When Sink orders a second patrol, Winters decides the risk cannot be justified. He tells the men to sleep and prepares a report saying the mission found no prisoners. Webster's participation begins to repair his standing with the company, while Winters protects the survivors by refusing another unnecessary gamble.