After graduating from Trinity College, Oxford, Gavin is faced with the question of what to do with his life, mortified by his seeming inability to find his way in the world. His reality is then turned upside down when Britain declares war on Germany after all of Europe is threatened by the German military juggernaut. This profound turn of events suddenly provides Gavin with the answer he has been searching for, leading him to enroll in the British Royal Air Force (RAF). Training was brutal, but despite almost washing out of the very challenging RAF flight school, Gavin eventually emerges with his wings as a Spitfire pilot and is soon tossed into the fray of the iconic Battle of Britain. While in combat, a near-fatal crash following an aerial dogfight leaves him permanently disfigured and incapacitated from extensive third degree burns to his hands and face, ending his military career as an RAF Spitfire pilot and the privileged life that he knew. Which takes Gavin back to square one, searching for his calling and purpose in life,