圣诞节前夕,空气中弥漫着节日的气息,“越州47”航班上,坐满了即将赶回家中同亲人们团聚的乘客,其中,有两个人显得是那样的格格不入,他们是穷凶极恶的罪犯史达斯(布莱丹·格里森 Brendan Gleeson 饰)和韦弗(雷·利奥塔Ray Liotta 饰),两人被四名警察押解着,前往洛杉矶。 最坏的情况发生了,史达斯袭击了警察,击毙了机长,一时间,飞机进入了无人驾驶的危险状态。就在这个节骨眼上,机智的空姐泰利(罗伦·荷莉 Lauren Holly 饰)果断出手,飞机重新回到了掌控之中,然而,真正危险的不仅仅是前方即将飞入的雷暴区,还有阴险狡诈,杀人如麻,对泰利垂涎已久的韦弗。Ryan Weaver romances beautiful women before he kills them. Ryan is arrested, convicted, and is part of a Christmas Eve transfer of prisoners on a transcontinental 747 commercial flight. Other airlines at JFK may have holiday passengers waiting on stand-by, but this jumbo jet takes off with a lot of empty seats. Ryan and another prisoner overpower and kill their guards. The few civilian passengers are herded into a "pantry" on the plane and are not seen again until the end of the movie. Ryan eliminates the other prisoners and all the crew members except Teri Halloran. The remainder of the movie follows a "cat-and-mouse" game between Ryan and Teri on the 747.