When Charles Beevor teaches Elizabeth, the daughter of the family's butler, to fly his gypsy moth, neither character knows that their shared passion for flying will lead them both to war and, eventually, to love. airlift wounded serviceman out of a ruined Berlin to the safety of England. killed on their last trip together. proves unbearable. that she begins to feel some peace among a community struggling to rebuild its homes and families after the devastation of war. rekindled, and their love affair takes flight.