Orissa Kane leaves modest employment and family constraints to pursue aviation, learning to pilot early biplanes, compete at meets, and confront mechanical danger and personal rivalry. She undertakes daring rescues and aerial confrontations, becomes instrumental in exposing wrongdoing, and navigates the social expectations placed on a young woman seeking independence. The episodic narrative mixes practical details of flying with scenes of training, tests, and a climactic airborne battle, followed by the personal and legal aftermath that resolves the principal tensions of her adventures.