Lieutenant John Smith (Smithers) is sent on a mission which he knows very little about. Flying at night, he must pick up an agent behind enemy lines and get them to safety. The less he knows, it seems, the better. Dangerous, but not impossible. But the task of transporting the agent takes on a twist that Smithers couldn't foresee and dangers he didn't expect.
The Smithers books are anti-Biggles stories for the modern reader. They are tales of an officer from a working-class background and without the natural talent of Biggles. Like many real pilots he survives more on luck than judgement in the dangerous skies of the Western Front.