A damaged pilot, Peter Carter, makes an emergency landing in the ocean after his plane is hit during a bombing run in May 1945. He radioes a young American woman, June, who works for the US Army Air Forces, and they form a connection. Peter jumps out of the plane and wakes up in the surf, only to discover that he's been given a second chance at life after a mix-up in heaven. He and June fall in love, and Peter decides that since it wasn't his fault, he deserves a second chance. As a result, heaven agrees to a trial to decide his fate.

A Matter of Life and Death
A pilot's fate is decided in a celestial court, where he must convince a higher authority of his worth to remain alive, while navigating a blossoming love affair with an American woman.