Inside the cockpit of his plane, a British pilot named Peter (David Niven) realizes that he may die, so he talks to his loved one, an American named June (Kim Hunter) by radio for a few minutes and tells her he loves her. But Peter cheats death and ends up on a beach, where he finds June again. Conductor 71 (Maurice Goring), who was supposed to take the dead Peter to heaven, comes to retrieve him because a mistake had been made. Peter wants to live instead, so he will have to undergo a strange celestial trial to determine if he will get his wish.