Gallipoli, 1916. Lovat Scout soldier Donald Peter Gillies lies in hospital, blinded by the Turks. There he falls in love with his Queen Alexandra Corps nurse, Louise. The story moves back and forth from their time at the field hospital to the west highlands of Scotland where Donald grew up. As they talk in the quiet hours he tells her the stories of the coast and glens. Louise in turn tells her own story of growing up in a Welsh coal mining valley. They get cut off from the allied troops and are forced to make an escape, but there is still another tragic twist to their story waiting on the way back to Donald's beloved highland home.