The narrative opens in the hospital ward where the main characters live.

The action begins to rise when Barney Snow, the protagonist, finds a balsa wood replica of an MG in the junkyard.

Barney later decides that the last ride he has promised Mazzo will take place in the imitation MG. The action then moves rapidly to the climax, which occurs when Mazzo, Barney, and Billy get the MG up to the roof of the hospital.

There, as Mazzo lies dying, they wheel the Bumblebee off the roof; no need for them to ride it—"they didn't need to fly.

The Bumblebee would fly for them."

Time stands still; space is frozen. For Barney "the Bumblebee never stopped flying." It is the enduring culmination of their effort to extract victory from defeat, optimism from despair, joy from sorrow, love and loyalty from isolation...