In the film, a United States Air Force pilot murders his family and steals an aircraft at gunpoint.

Captain Eddie Gordon (William O'Leary), a graduate of the United States Air Force academy, is a talented and aggressive pilot who proves too much for his fellow students to match.

His flight instructor, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Ryan (Peter Strauss) tries to encourage him to practice restraint, but with little success.

After his birthday party at his home in Las Vegas, Eddie puts a religiously motivated long-organized plan into action: He kills his brother (Rodney Eastman) and his parents (Ben Rawnsley and K. Callan).

Later, Colonel Bill Douglas (James O'Sullivan) of the base's flight control is informed of the triple murder at the Gordons' residence while a training exercise involving Eddie is under way.

Eddie lands in Garrison, Utah, to hide his jet in a deserted barn, but is accidentally discovered by a family on vacation, Richard (Michael Keys Hall) and Valerie (Michele Pawk) Dwyer and their baby.

While Eddie works on defeating the fail-safes on the tactical nuke, he is exposed to lethal radiation, and his health quickly deteriorates.

Subsequently, Ryan convinces Douglas to concentrate on Las Vegas; he travels to Hill AFB to take an F-16 fighter plane to fly lead.