In 1944, as the air war over Europe enters a deadly phase with increasing losses of bombers, the 332d Expeditionary Operations Group (the Tuskegee Airmen) consisting of young African-American USAAF fighter pilots, after enduring racism throughout their recruitment and training in the Tuskegee training program, are finally sent into combat in Italy. Although flying worn-out Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aircraft and chafing at their ground attack missions, the Tuskegee Airmen recognize they may never fight the Luftwaffe. The tight-knit group of Capt. Martin "Easy" Julian, 1st Lt. Joe "Lightning" Little, 2nd Lt. Ray "Ray Gun" Gannon, 2nd Lt. Andrew "Smokey" Salem, and 2nd Lt. Samuel "Joker" George under the guidance of Major Emanuel Stance and Col. A.J. Bullard, face a white military bureaucracy still resistant to accepting black flyers as equals.
Neal Page is trying to return to his family for Thanksgiving in Chicago after being on a business trip in New York City, but is held up by an advertising executive who spends the entirety of the meeting looking at the three pictures to choose to launch their ad. On their way out, he tries to find a cab and successfully hails one, but is beaten to the punch by another man (Kevin Bacon in a cameo appearance). Del Griffith, a traveling salesman, interferes by leaving his trunk by the side of the road causing Neal to trip while racing a man for a cab, then inadvertently snatching the taxi ride that Neal bought from an attorney. The two meet again on the flight from JFK Airport to O'Hare; the plane is diverted to Wichita due to a blizzard in Chicago. What should have been a 1-hour and 45-minute New York-to-Chicago flight turns into a three-day ordeal, in which everything that can go wrong does.
Columbia Air Lines' Flight 409 is a Boeing 747-100 on a red-eye route from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport. Scott Freeman, meanwhile, is a New Mexican businessman flying his private Beechcraft Baron to an urgent sales meeting in Boise, Idaho. However, an occluded front has the entire West Coast socked in, with Los Angeles reporting zero visibility. Columbia 409 and Freeman's Beechcraft are both diverted to Salt Lake City International Airport.
In 1938 Los Angeles, California, two members of mobster Eddie Valentine's (Paul Sorvino) gang steal a rocket pack from Howard Hughes (Terry O'Quinn). During their exciting escape they enter an airfield. Stunt pilot Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell) and airplane mechanic, then find the mysterious rocket inside a biplane in their employer's hangar, where the getaway driver hid it. Meanwhile, Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton)for whom the rocket was stolen, sends his monstrous henchman, Lothar (Tiny Ron), to the hospital, where the injured getaway driver tells him that he hid the rocket at the airfield. Sinclair dispatches the mobsters to search for the missing device.
International psychopath terrorist Charles Rane (Bruce Payne), known as "The Rane of Terror", is caught by the FBI and local authorities just as he is about to receive plastic surgery to alter his features. The FBI make plans to return Rane to Los Angeles aboard a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar passenger aircraft for him to stand trial.
Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins), a billionaire with an amazing memory; Robert "Bob" Green (Alec Baldwin), a photographer; and Stephen (Harold Perrineau), his assistant, arrive in a remote Alaskan locale via Charles' private jet, along with Charles' much-younger wife, Mickey (Elle Macpherson), a beautiful fashion model. After landing and boarding the floatplane to finish the journey, Charles opens a wrapped book about survival in the wild, apparently a gift from an employee. The group, who intend to conduct a photo shoot, are the only guests at a lodge. Styles (L.Q. Jones), the proprietor, warns everyone that the region is inhabited by bears and not to leave food uncovered.
Rizwan Khan is a Muslim child who grew up with his brother Zakir and his mother Razia Khan in a middle-class family in the section of Mumbai. Rizwan is different from other children, however. He has certain gifts, particularly a special ability to repair mechanical things. His difference leads to special tutoring from a reclusive scholar and extra attention from his mother, both of which lead to heightened jealousy from his brother Zakir, who eventually leaves his family for a life in the United States.
Francis McNeil "Frank" Murphy (Roy Scheider) is a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) helicopter-pilot-officer and troubled Vietnam War veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His newly assigned field partner is Richard Lymangood (Daniel Stern). The two patrol Los Angeles at night and give assistance to police forces on the ground.
Jonas Cord becomes one of America's richest men, inheriting an explosives company from his late father. Cord resents his father bitterly and is psychologically scarred by the death of a twin brother. Believing his family has insanity in its blood, he does not want children of his own.
Mobster Carmine Ricca (Richard Devon) drives away from court and an angry mob after being acquitted on a technicality. An unseen SFPD motorcycle cop stops Ricca’s limo for a minor traffic violation. Suddenly, the patrolman pulls his service revolver (a Colt Python .357 Magnum), shoots all four men in the car, then rides away.
An introductory text explains how the United States has gradually become strategically isolated after several European nations (except the United Kingdom) withdraw from NATO. At the same time, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact partners aggressively expand their sphere of influence. In addition, the Ukrainian wheat harvest fails while a Communist coup d'etat occurs in Mexico.
In 1941, the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Sō Yamamura) and his predecessor, Zengo Yoshida (Junya Usami), discuss America's embargo that starves Japan of raw materials. While both agree that a war with the United States would be a complete disaster, army hotheads and politicians push through an alliance with Germany and start planning for war. With the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto orders the planning of a preventive strike, believing Japan's only hope is to annihilate the American Pacific fleet at the outset of hostilities.
The film opens before the declaration of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. At a Forward operating Airbase Air force Wing Commander Anand 'Andy' Bajwa, setting his stop watch waits for the Air raid Siren to go. As the siren goes he sprints Towards his MiG-21 armed, fueled and Ready for take off. Bajwa and His Air Force wingmen soon take off to an unknown Airbase in Rajasthan. Once there, he is Debriefed by his superior that he & his Squadron are assigned to the Jaisalmer sector and has to fly outdated Hawker Hunter Ground attack planes (with no night vision capabilities) to support the Indian Army. He is soon joined by his Brother-in-arms Army Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (played by Sunny Deol) as they meet on a courier flight and speak about the possibility of opening of the Western front in light of the East Pakistan conflict. Kuldip takes up command of a company of the 23rd Battalion Punjab Regiment, arguing the light defence being assigned to the military post of Longewala. He meets his second in command 2nd Lt Dharamvir Bhan (Akshaye Khanna) (who happens to be the son of a 1965 Indo-Pakistani-War veteran who was killed during that war) and the Company NCO Subedar Mathura Das (Sudesh Berry). The company moves to the remote outpost in the deserts of Rajasthan and begin to expand the rudimentary Border Security Force (BSF) post and does a recce of the area up to the international border with Pakistan. They meet the post's BSF commandant Bhairon Singh (Sunil Shetty), a deeply patriotic man who expresses his love for the desert.
In Chicago's O'Hare airport, advertising executive Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck) is delayed by a snow storm for a return flight to Los Angeles, on the same airline he has just signed as a big client. He meets writer Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn), and when his flight resumes boarding, Buddy gives his ticket to Greg so he can get home to his sons, Scott (Alex D. Linz) and Joey (David Dorfman). Buddy convinces his friend and airline employee Janice Guerrero (Jennifer Grey) to allow Greg to take his place on the flight. While spending the night with fellow stranded passenger Mimi (Natasha Henstridge), Buddy sees on television that the flight crashed. He has Janice check into the computer system to remove his name from the passenger manifest and add Greg's name.
The film opens with a series of photographs of the Stella Maris College's Old Christians Rugby Team. Carlitos Páez explains that the pictures were taken by his father and points out several members of the team, including himself as a young man, Alex Morales, Felipe Restano, Nando Parrado and the team's Captain Antonio Balbi. Carlitos then reflects on the accident in a brief monologue, speaking of heroism, the gravity of the situation and of solitude and faith.