Peter Markham is a schoolteacher who has been abandoned by his female partner because she, rightly, considers him dull.
He tries to change himself, seeking adventure by joining a course at a gliding club. Disappointed, he leaves the airfield in anger when a wild teenage girl forces him to stop, begging for help in retrieving her older stepsister, Julia, who has landed her glider in a hayfield a hundred kilometres away.
He allows himself to be manipulated by Mitch, the younger girl, calling her a cunning little minx. Reluctantly, he does as she asks.
This is the beginning of a series of life-changing experiences for him. Instructed by the older sister, he learns to fly, finds himself in love with the sport and with young Mitch, while confronting serious problems with Julia.