Richard (Kenneth Branagh), an unsuccessful artist who builds primitive flying machines, attempts to fly from the roof of a London office building wearing homemade wings but fails, instead crash-landing and only being saved by a rescue squad. As a result of his actions Richard is sentenced to community service, in the form of caring for Jane (Helena Bonham Carter), an ill-tempered, wheelchair-bound woman who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and has run off her previous caretakers.