Aboard a commercial
Boeing 747 airliner,
U.S. Marshals brothers Terry and Pete Nessip are escorting computer expert Earl Leedy to a high-security prison. When an apparent terrorist hijack attempt blows a hole in the airliner, Terry is sucked out of the plane, falling more than to his death. The perpetrators parachute out of the same hole, taking Leedy with them. Ex-
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent and renegade skydiver Ty Moncrief is the mastermind behind the attack, which culminated in the first-ever parachute jump from a commercial jet at 30,000 feet. Ty plans to use Leedy to hack into the DEA mainframe computer in
Washington, D.C. so Ty can auction the names of undercover agents to drug cartels worldwide. Ty has scheduled this to be accomplished during an
Independence Day parachute exhibition and fireworks display, which is the one day every year when security is loosened around the airspace above D.C. Pete believes that the hijacking may have been an elaborate prison break meant to free Leedy. However, the
FBI declares that sneaking a parachute through airport security is impossible, and that parachuting at the jet's altitude and speed is not survivable. A devastated Pete is blamed for overreacting to the incident, and he is forced to resign. Undeterred, Pete consults Commander Dejaye, a
US Navy high-altitude military parachuting instructor who confirms that he and his team have parachuted from that height and speed, but Dejaye also states that the high-density metal rings in the parachutes would not pass airport metal detectors and that the operation required either rare skills or suicidal recklessness. Dejaye believes the world class skydiver Don Jagger could perform the jump, but he does not know Jagger's whereabouts. Pete is instead referred to Jagger's reckless ex-girlfriend, ex-con Jessie Crossman, who runs a skydiving school in the
Florida Keys. Jessie, who is unaware that Jagger is part of Ty's crew, agrees to train Pete how to skydive, if he will sponsor her team for the parachute exhibition. Soon after, when Jagger's identity is exposed by a passenger from the hijacking, Jagger is found dead, tangled in some high voltage power lines. Jessie breaks into the police impound to examine Jagger's parachute. She determines that his death was a murder engineered by Ty, and she swears revenge. Pete inquires as to the parachute's lack of metal, which Jessie explains is a custom "smuggler's rig" made with high density fabrics to deter detection. When Pete discovers Ty's plan to hack into the DEA mainframe, the rest of the parachuting team agrees to help Pete with his objective. Jessie's parachuting friend Selkirk Power is severely injured after using a faulty parachute that Ty had intended for Jessie to use. On the night of the Independence Day exhibition, Jessie sneaks into Ty's parachuting aircraft, holding them at gunpoint in order to determine an explanation for Jagger's death. Ty's men force her out of the aircraft and then exit themselves with parachutes. Jessie manages to grab ahold of the aircraft door bar. She releases her grasp and
free falls just as Pete and the parachuting team arrive and rescue her, floating down safely to the roof of the DEA mainframe office building where Ty has already arrived. Pete tries to find access to the DEA mainframe control room, eliminating Ty's men one by one, with the help of the parachuting team. He breaks in and holds Leedy (who has already started downloading the identities) as hostage. Ty kidnaps Jessie. He threatens to kill her unless Pete releases Leedy. Pete and Ty fight, which results in both of them falling out the building window. Pete opens his emergency parachute, but Ty tumbles to his death. Pete lands safely on the ground and is escorted away by paramedics. He spots Leedy wearing a DEA jacket, leaving the scene. A team member, Swoop, leaps from the building with a parachute, landing on Leedy and stopping him in his tracks. Pete tells Jessie jokingly that he would try skydiving again in 40 or 50 years. ==Cast==