For Elizabeth Cartwright, a young girl enjoying the spring of 1940 in the lovely Kent countryside, the interruption of a group of young fighter pilots into her life is a shattering experience. Accustomed to a peaceful existence at home with her mother, grandmother and Uncle Harry, she suddenly finds her life revolutionized. At first shy and somewhat scornful of the young pilots, with their high spirits and strange R.A.F. slang, she gradually becomes infected with they gaiety and learns to use their language. She learns, too, to respect their reticence to talk about the other side of their lives - the desperate, bloody battles in which they engage high above the pastoral landscape - and the sudden absence from among them of one or other of their number who has "bought it", as they phrase it.
As the summer advances, we see her passing from hero-worship to love, gaiety to anguish and bitterness, before, after tragedy has all but destroyed her, she finds ultimate happiness. It is autumn and the Battle of Britain is over - so, too, is the equally desperate battle for the very soul of Elizabeth, for whom life will never be the same; she will always remember that glorious summer of 1940 and gallant young men she was happy and proud to know.
In this human, moving and, at times, amusing story, H. E. Bates reveals, once again, his deep feeling for the English countryside and his consummate skill in interpreting the lives of wartime flying men and the true spirit of the hour.