Sam Doyle (Pat O'Brien) is a World War One veteran pilot whose post-war negligence causes the death of Thompson (Warren Ashe) his co-pilot. Disgraced, he attempts to find refuge from his guilt by exiling himself to Dutch Guiana where, for a while, he lives among the flotsam and jetsam of humanity. Danny Doyle, the son he has not seen for years, is now a test pilot, and in love with Susie Thompson, the daughter of the dead co-pilot. Sam re-enlists in the army air corps, under an assumed name, as a private and redeems himself by sacrificing his life in a test flight scheduled to be taken by his son.