In the Himalayas two climbers strike out for the summit of the Earth's highest mountain - aiming to be the first to the top, and reclaim a little of Britain's lost glory.
In Cambridge, a wife collects the milk, gets three children out of bed and waits for a letter, a telegram - for news of her husband.
It is 1924 and George Mallory and Andrew Irvine are attempting to be the first to conquer Everest. They face inhuman cold and wind, but putting one foot falteringly after another they reach for the peak. Meanwhile, at home Ruth Mallory goes about her day, hiding her doubts and the uncertainty about the future with or - god forbid - without George.
A powerful, moving story of a husband driven to extraordinary lengths by his ambition and a wife terrified she will lose him to a pitiless rival, Above All Things brings to life one of the great tragedies - and love stories - of the last century.