Published by Doubleday in 1968, the story concerns a large metropolitan airport and its operations during a severe winter storm.

His problems in his marriage are further exacerbated by his romantically charged friendship with a lovely divorcee from Trans America Airlines, who is their passenger relations manager, Tanya Livingston.

The story takes place mainly over the course of one evening and night, as a massive snowstorm wreaks havoc on airport operations.

The shorter runway 25 is also later inadequate to land the returning airplane, which has suffered major structural and mechanical damage due to explosive decompression caused by the detonation of the bomb brought on board.

Joe Patroni is the tough and practical head of maintenance operations for Trans World Airlines (TWA) at Lincoln.

D. O. Guerrero is an increasingly psychologically disturbed bankrupt building contractor, who is determined to find a way to solve his financial problems, regardless of what it will cost others.

A mostly separate plot line concerns Mel's brother Keith, an air traffic controller tormented by guilt and flashbacks, due to his self-blame of not realizing the imminent danger of a mid-air collision and failing to take steps to prevent it from happening.

Other plot lines focus on Cindy Bakersfeld's social aspirations, the ambitious lawyer leading an ultimately doomed effort to sue the airport for noise over his clients' homes, and a disagreement between Mel and Vernon over flight insurance sales.

Earlier in his writing career, Hailey also wrote Runway Zero Eight, which was a novelization of the television play Flight into Danger (1956) and later inspired the films Zero Hour!

Starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, and George Kennedy, the film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture.