Charting Derfal's illustrious career, leading to his appointment as a squadron commander as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), this tale traces the growth of a young boy into a man against the background of the First World War. Alongside the action is a tender love story between Derfal and the Stationmaster's daughter, Ruby.
Wesley is the middle of six brothers born to a poor mining family in a South Wales pit village. After following his three elder brothers and father into the mine straight from the village school, Wesley immediately feels as though he will be trapped in hard and dangerous graft for the rest of his life and is determined to break free.