Humphrey Jennings was the spiritual heir to Basil Wright, and a poet who was in the right place at the moment he was most needed: Britain during World War II. This film uses nonprofessional actors and actuality footage to create a portrait of London during the blitz, in which ordinary people did heroic deeds and still carried on their ordinary lives. These were men and women of the fire brigade, who fought the blazes started by bombs dropped by German planes to overcome the blackout and reveal key targets.