When apprentice jockey Rory Gillespie abandons his fiancee Laura Brickhill, in favour of trainer's daughter Pam Fanshaw, it's a decision made from ambition not love. And Rory has to wait ten years before Laura will forgive him.
Now one of England's leading trainers, and married to property tycoon Luke Mundy, Laura asks Rory to ride her best horse, Midnight Express, in Cheltenham's Two Mile Champion Chase. Shortly afterwards, Luke is killed on one of Laura's horses and she is arrested for manslaughter. Rory won't desert her this time and, setting out to prove Laura's innocence, he discovers that there is more than one person who will benefit from Luke's death.