While working in a pub, an aimless young man, Jonas (Mick Ford), meets an eccentric old man named Yoshka Poliakeff (Trevor Howard). They strike up a relationship, with mentor Yoshka giving mentee Jonas a series of jobs to accomplish -- man the gas pump for customers that may never come, clean up refuse -- around the ramshackle shed Yoshka calls a home. Eventually, Jonas learns that Yoshka is building artificial wings so that he can fly into space, abandoning the earth forever.