The action of the book takes place from the mid-1920s through the 1930s.

Saint-Exupery describes his experiences as an aviator in places ranging from Europe to Africa to South America.

He traces the topography of Spain field by-field and farm-by-farm with his friend Henri Guillaumet before embarking on his first real flight for the Latecoere Company; he crashes in the Sahara Desert with his engineer Prevot during an attempted long-distance flight from France to Saigon; he visits the battlefields of the Spanish Civil War as a correspondent and observes the strength and the sadness of the soldiers there. Saint-Exupery is a sensitive and observant traveler, and Wind, Sand and Stars derives its power from his insightful descriptions of the exotic sites to which his restless wings take him.