Promoted from the ranks after spending two years in the trenches, Bruno Stachel becomes a flying officer in Germany's World War I air force. Most of the officer corps comes from Germany's aristocratic elite and Stachel feels out of place. This does not dampen his ambition however as he single-mindedly pursues his goal: to be awarded the Blue Max, given for shooting down 20 enemy planes. His blind ambition leads him to claim a kill that is not his and when he confides in the beautiful wife of a General, disaster is inevitable.—garykmcd