Eddie and Eva meet on the eve of the Second World War. Eddie only wants to be a flyer to find escape in the clouds from his own complicated family. However the Battle of Britain makes a pilot's life a dangerous way to flee reality. Eva has her own passionate longing: to become a painter. When Eva's Jewish mother disappears to Germany she is left alone with her elderly father. Both Eddie and Eva come of age at a time that teaches them that happiness is always fleeting but there are things worth living - or dying - for.