Az I. világháborút követő években a háborúban megedzett merész pilótáknak sokkal prózaibb mesterség után kellett nézniük: a "Repülő cirkusz" mutatványosaiként vakmerően kalandos vállalkozásokban kerestek életüknek új értelmet. Így tesz Waldo Pepper is, aki a földhözragadt mindennapok unalmas világa helyett minden tiltás ellenére a végtelen kék eget választja, magasban szállva a felhők fölött.

In the 1930s, once-great World War I pilot Roger Shumann performs as a daredevil barnstorming pilot at aerial stunt shows while his wife, LaVerne, works as a parachutist. When newspaper reporter Burke Devlin arrives to do a story on the Shumanns’ act, he quickly falls in love with the beautiful--and neglected--LaVerne.

Vanna White is a stripper who falls for a stunt pilot who develops amnesia after a crash.

Two former WWI aces from opposite sides, Bill Ramsey and Otto Shumann, in the best tradition of Eddie Rickenbacker and the Red Baron, barnstorm their way across the Poverty Row skies of middle-America while competing for daredevil honors and the favors of the lovely Eve.

Barnstorming pilots Speed Condon, Bill Adams, and Eddie Smith travel the country with their manager, Alec Dugan, performing at fairs and air shows and hawking rides for the locals. But when Speed's rambunctious flying results in tragedy, he gives up flying in despair and guilt. Alec tracks him down and hopes to get him back on his feet and back in the air.