A bemused, mild-mannered accountant takes up jogging and a lithesome, young woman sprints into his life, inspiring him to enter a marathon, to the annoyance of his non-running wife.

Using newsreel footage, this Sportscope entry chronicles the race toward running's four-minute mile, highlighting several important contests. It starts in the 1920's, when Finland's Paavo Nurmi set the record for the distance at 4 minutes 10.4 seconds. It continues through Roger Bannister's first run under 4 minutes in 1954, and ends in spring 1956, when Australia's Joe Bailey became the first to break 4 minutes on US soil.