War Horse 40th Anniversary Edition recap

Joey, a farm horse raised by Albert Narracott in Devon, is sold to the British cavalry when the First World War begins. In France he serves first as a cavalry mount beside the black horse Topthorn, then is captured by German troops. The two horses pull an ambulance, spend a brief peaceful period with a French girl named Emilie, and are later forced into exhausting artillery work. Topthorn dies, and shellfire drives Joey alone into no man's land, where British and German soldiers cooperate to rescue him. Taken to a British veterinary hospital, Joey is recognized by Albert, who has enlisted in hopes of finding him. Joey survives illness and the war, but the army plans to sell him. Emilie's grandfather buys him at auction, then yields him to Albert after hearing their history. Albert brings Joey home to Devon, giving the horse a peaceful life while preserving the memory of those lost during the war.

Joey remembers being separated from his mother and sold at a country auction to a Devon farmer who has been drinking and is determined to outbid a rival. At the Narracott farm, the frightened colt meets the farmer's son Albert, whose calm voice and steady care win his trust. Albert names him Joey and teaches him to accept a halter and respond to commands. Because the family needs Joey to work rather than merely be ridden, Albert must train him quickly to plough alongside the older mare Zoey. Horse and boy succeed despite the father's doubts, and Joey helps save the farm's crop. When war begins, financial pressure and drink lead Albert's father to sell Joey to the army without warning. Captain Nicholls promises the devastated Albert that he will care for Joey. Albert is too young to enlist, so Joey leaves for military service without him.

Joey trains as a cavalry horse and forms a close partnership with Topthorn, a powerful black horse ridden by Captain Stewart. Captain Nicholls keeps his promise to Albert and handles Joey kindly. The regiment crosses to France, where the landscape initially seems quiet, but its first mounted attack exposes the horses to machine guns and barbed wire. Captain Nicholls is killed, and the less confident Trooper Warren becomes Joey's rider. In a later charge, Joey and Topthorn carry Warren and Stewart through the enemy position but are surrounded beyond British lines. German soldiers capture the men and horses. A German officer, Hauptmann, admires the horses and spares them from harsher treatment by assigning them to pull a medical wagon. Joey and Topthorn, once cavalry mounts, begin carrying wounded soldiers from both armies away from the fighting.

Under German control, Joey and Topthorn pull an ambulance and are handled with care. They are quartered at the farm of an elderly Frenchman and his granddaughter Emilie. The lonely, often ill girl becomes devoted to the horses, feeding and grooming them whenever she is able. For a time the work and the farm offer relief from battle, and Emilie's grandfather hopes the horses can remain. The respite ends when an artillery unit arrives and requisitions them to haul heavy guns. Their new work is relentless: teams struggle through mud with inadequate food and little rest, and other horses collapse under the strain. Joey and Topthorn survive partly because their earlier farm training taught them to pull together. Emilie and her grandfather can do nothing as the army takes the horses away again.

Joey and Topthorn continue hauling German artillery through worsening conditions. Friedrich, a soldier who would rather care for horses than fight, becomes their groom and treats them with kindness. The gun team loses horses to exhaustion and violence, leaving the survivors with still more work. Topthorn, weakened by months of strain, finally collapses and dies beside Joey. Friedrich stays with Joey as shelling begins, but he too is killed. Terrified and suddenly without either companion, Joey bolts across the battlefield. He runs blindly among trenches, explosions, and wire until an injury stops him in the exposed ground between the armies. By nightfall he is alone in no man's land, visible to soldiers on both sides but belonging to neither.

Trapped and wounded in no man's land, Joey draws the attention of both trenches. A British soldier and a German soldier come out under white flags and work together to free him from the wire. They settle possession with a coin toss, part amicably, and Joey is led to the British side. The army sends him to a veterinary hospital, where his wounds can be cleaned and treated. Joey is once again among British voices and receiving care rather than being driven back into service, though the staff initially see him as one more injured animal brought in from the battlefield.

At the veterinary hospital, Albert recognizes Joey after using the distinctive call with which he trained him in Devon. Their reunion confirms that both have survived years of separation, and Albert resumes caring for the horse. Joey then develops tetanus, and the veterinary staff initially fear he cannot be saved, but Albert and the others persuade the officer in charge to attempt treatment. Joey recovers. The war continues to take lives around them, including Albert's friend David, before the armistice finally ends the fighting. Peace does not guarantee that horse and owner can remain together: the army announces that its horses will be sold locally instead of shipped home. Albert's comrades pool their money so that he can bid for Joey at auction, but they face buyers with greater resources, including one seeking horses for meat.

At the army auction, Albert and his comrades try to buy Joey, but an elderly French farmer makes the winning bid. The buyer is Emilie's grandfather. He reveals that Emilie died after Joey and Topthorn were taken from the farm and that he has searched for Joey because the horse represented her happiest wartime memories. Once Albert tells him their story, the grandfather accepts that Joey belongs with the boy who raised him. He gives Joey to Albert, asking only that Emilie be remembered. Albert brings Joey back to Devon after the war and later marries Maisie. Joey returns to farm life with Albert, ending his long passage through cavalry service, capture, forced labor, battlefield injury, and illness in the home where he first learned to trust a person.

After the armistice, the army decides to auction its surviving horses in France rather than transport them to Britain. Albert and his comrades collect their money to buy Joey, but an elderly French farmer wins the bidding. He is Emilie's grandfather and explains that Emilie died after the horses were taken away; he bought Joey in her memory. When he understands the depth of Albert's bond with the horse, he lets Albert take Joey home on the condition that Emilie's story will be remembered. Albert and Joey return to Devon. Albert eventually marries Maisie, the girl who had waited for him, and Joey settles back into peaceful farm life. The reunion does not erase the losses of the war, including Topthorn, Friedrich, David, and Emilie, but Joey ends his account safe with the person who first earned his trust.