London. 1940. 9-year-old George (Elliott Heffernan) is sent away to the countryside as an evacuee on a train, leaving behind his devastated single mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and music-loving grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller, in his first acting role).
Unbeknownst to them, however, George makes a daring escape, facing the danger of the Blitz-stricken capital as he sets out on a homecoming odyssey through one of the most destructive periods of the Second World War in England. Talented singer Rita, meanwhile, takes up work in a munitions factory, dreaming of the day when her family will be reunited once again…
From a true artist of modern cinema, the great Steve McQueen, whose prolific career spans Hunger, Shame, and his masterful Small Axe television series, comes a visionary, altogether experiential recounting of wartime history. Interweaving grandly staged, breathtaking setpieces with deeply personal, affecting family drama, Heffernan and Ronan are truly remarkable, making the grounded story of the unbreakable bond between a mother and son the beating heart of Blitz.