The film stars David Janssen, Don Meredith and Christopher George, along with an all-star cast primarily playing the roles of passengers and crew aboard an airliner in crisis.

[1] Robert Butler was "... one of the premium directors of series TV through four decades", although he also became a specialist in "one-off" television and film features.

During a major snow storm, Transcon Airways Flight 602, Boeing 727 airliner piloted by Captain Pete Douglas (David Janssen), First Officer Stan Burkhart (Christopher George) and Second Officer Mike Fuller (Don Meredith) on a flight from Los Angeles to New York, makes a scheduled stop in Salt Lake City.

Greco (Marjoe Gortner), a two-time killer in the custody of Sam Riese, a Federal Marshal (Broderick Crawford) comes aboard.

Among the passengers are Burkhart's girlfriend, nurse Susan McKenzie (Margaret Blye) and Joseph Mannheim (Ray Milland) a disillusioned and possibly disgraced medical doctor drowning his problems with scotch.

After leaving Salt Lake City, the Federal Marshal suffers a fatal heart attack and his prisoner gets his gun.

In the ensuing scuffle, Greco fires wildly, wounding the pilot and Susan McKenzie, as well as puncturing the hydraulic oil lines controlling all major systems on the airliner, including flaps and landing gear.

A severe snowstorm has closed nearly all Midwestern airports, thus forcing the crippled aircraft with its badly wounded passengers to endure a three-hour flight to Chicago.