玛格丽特（奥利维娅·科尔曼 Olivia Colman 饰）从小在父亲经营的书店里玩耍长大，博览群书的她对人物传记情有独钟，成年后，她甚至开始尝试着自己撰写古人传记。某日，玛格丽特收到了作家温特（瓦妮莎·雷德格瑞夫 Vanessa Redgrave 饰）的来信，信中，温特表示希望玛格丽特能够替她立书作传。玛格丽特的身世和她本人一样充满了谜团，坊间流传的有关她的传闻几乎都不属实。好奇心的驱使之下，玛格丽特来到了温特的住处，在那里，女作家亲口向她诉说了关于自己家族的历史。然而，这段故事是如此的诡异离奇，令玛格丽特几乎不敢相信，为了验证温特所言，玛格丽特决心通过自己的力量进行调查，由此揭开了一个埋藏多年的秘密。

At a fashionable dinner party in Hong Kong a naval officer is coaxed into revealing details of a dream in which eight persons take off from Bangkok in a Dakota bound for Tokyo and crash in the Japanese mountains. Amongst those listening is Air Marshal Hardie who is due to fly to Tokyo the next day. Hardie initially dismisses the dream because he is scheduled to fly out in a Liberator, but as Hardie arrives at the airport he discovers that the Liberator has developed mechanical problems and has been replaced by a Dakota. When, just before the flight is due to depart, two soldiers board the plane making a complement of eight, Hardie fears that the Dream may be coming true and he is destined to die.