It stars Howard Keel, Jane Greer, Patricia Medina and Keenan Wynn in a drama revolving around two lost children in the Canadian north.

Their father, pilot Vince Heldon (Howard Keel) and his wife Julie (Jane Greer) join forces with the family friend, bush pilot "Brandy" (Keenan Wynn) and Nora Stead (Patricia Medina), the children's mother (from an earlier, but unsuccessful marriage) to mount a desperate aerial search before incoming bad weather arrives.

Tensions mount as the children face the danger of exposure and a mountain lion that begins to track them while the searchers themselves are in conflict as the hotshot pilot Stead creates problems with her constant efforts to take over the search.

[Note 1] Variety called Desperate Search "strictly a routine offering" but praised Lewis's directing skill, which "hammers home as much tension and suspense as possible."

A later-day review similarly noted the taut story and excellent portrayals by the leads but also described the child actors as being the key to film, with Lee Aaker's acting a stand-out while Linda Lowell "gives a one-note performance which consists mostly of screaming at the top of her lungs.