ida mae jones dreams of flight her daddy was a pilot and being black didnt stop him from fulfilling his dreams but her daddys gone now and being a woman and being black are two strikes against her when america enters the war with germany and japan the army creates the wasp the women airforce service pilots and ida suddenly sees a way to fly as well as do something significant to help her brother stationed in the pacific but even the wasp wont accept her as a black woman forcing ida mae to make a difficult choice of passing of pretending to be white to be accepted into the program hiding ones racial heritage denying ones family denying ones self is a heavy burden and while ida mae chases her dream she must also decide who it is she really wants to be