Traumatised by the death of an innocent. Killer for hire Bradley drops out of society, seeking meaning roaming the dangerous streets of a tough inner city ghetto. When he encounters a savage pimp and a desperate woman under his control Bradley finds the means to give battle to the inner demons that have eluded him. He embarks on a quest to save a young girl from the clutches of the brutal gangsters that trade human beings as currency. Drawn deeper into a sickening world in which age is no bar to exploitation and pursued by police, gangland villains and a mysterious agency known only as The Executive. Bradley discovers an ever deepening web of corruption and vice, and a dangerous game in which nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted.
故事发生在1862年的伦敦，詹姆斯（埃迪·雷德梅恩 Eddie Redmayne 饰）是一位非常有理想抱负的年轻科学家，致力于研究天气预报技术，然而，经济上的窘迫让他无法使用自己的热气球将研究成果带上天空，于是，他找到了名为艾米莉亚（菲丽希缇·琼斯 Felicity Jones 饰）的女子。 艾米莉亚是一个经验非常丰富的热气球飞行员，如今却沉溺在一段痛苦的往事之中无法自拔。她答应了詹姆斯的请求，两人共同驾驶着热气球开始了他们的冒险，并且凭借着智慧和勇气抵达了人类从未涉足过的高度。然而，当他们飞的越高，所要面对的危险就越大。