It is 1921, the dawn of the "Age of Normalcy" and a return to the old ways that prevailed before the World War. Bigotry and intolerance drive Grace Dobbins and her beloved Anita out of their bucolic retreat on Long Island. Grace returns to the glittering but corrupt world of the Broadway theatre, and Anita finds an even truer love, a man she marries. Grace copes with her loss by re-making herself as a "sophisticated lady" and the right-hand of a powerful titan of the twentieth century stage. She routinely courts danger by flying the wood and fabric airplanes of her day and by becoming a celebrated wingwalker. The acute dangers of her aerial escapades prepare her for the most perilous stunt of her life.