In 1950, during the Cold War, František (Franta) Sláma (Ondřej Vetchý) is incarcerated in Czechoslovakia, because of his prior service in the RAF.

However, Franta and his young friend Karel Vojtíšek (Kryštof Hádek), among others, refuse to submit to their occupiers and flee to the United Kingdom to join the RAF.

The British make the Czechoslovaks retrain from the basics, which infuriates them, especially Karel, who is both impatient to fight the Germans and humiliated at being retaught what he already knows.

Following a mission to France where the squadron attacks a train, Karel is shot down, but Franta lands and rescues him, a move that shows that their friendship endures.

Afterward, when the war is over, Franta drives to Susan's home, only to find her with her injured husband recently returned from fighting overseas.

Principal photography for the film involved a large number of locations: Hradčany Airport, Czech Republic, Dover, England, Germany and South Africa.

"[4] Animator Hayao Miyazaki was very positive of the film, praising it for showing the speed and fragility of aircraft and the historic tragedy of the Czech pilots after the war.

Leonard Maltin commented that the love triangle provided a "more novel and interesting" aspect but the "surprisingly elaborate" flying scenes helped make the film less of a "capable but uninspired yarn", not very different from other World War II features.

[6] Peter Bradshaw's review in The Guardian echoed a similar view, "A by-the-numbers WW2 romantic tale of two Czech pilots in love with the same British woman, which plays like a mixture of Pearl Harbor and "Two Little Boys" by Rolf Harris.