‘You could see the pilot as he came past, immobile, seconds to eternity.’ As a teenager, Cliff dreams that one day he will play cricket for Australia, but when war comes he changes cricket whites for a navy uniform. Leaving everything he knows behind he faces new horrors every day, from exploding mines and submarine attacks to deliberate suicide attacks by kamikaze pilots, never knowing if he will see his sweetheart, Marie, again. But amongst all the tragedy of war, Cliff finds something he never thought possible amidst all the fear and devastation ... hope.