Remarkable rare footage of Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Copland, Walton, Elisabeth Lutyens, Richard Strauss, Shostakovich, Messiaen and Tippett gives a first-hand account of the revolution that classical music underwent in the first half of the century. As we see Schoenberg play tennis, Strauss and Shostakovich play with their grandchildren and hear Messiaen tell the story of how he wrote his most significant work in a German PoW camp, we get a vivid picture of what it took to be a composer during the most turbulent time in modern history.