When Charles Beevor teaches Elizabeth, the daughter of the family's butler, to fly his gypsy moth, neither character knows that their shared passion for flying will lead them both to war and, eventually, to love. Elizabeth spends World War II as a female ferry pilot - her last job, to airlift wounded serviceman out of a ruined Berlin to the safety of England. But in a terrible accident, Elizabeth's engineer and best friend, Alice, is killed on their last trip together. Elizabeth's subsequent return to the mundane domesticity of her pre-war life proves unbearable. It's only when she visits Alice's East London family to pay her condolences that she begins to feel some peace among a community struggling to rebuild its homes and families after the devastation of war. And it's only when Charles goes to find her that their friendship is rekindled, and their love affair takes flight.