During the closing days of the
Second World War, six members of the
Royal Air Force fighter squadron led by Canadian pilot Ted Stryker are killed because of a command decision he made. Stryker blamed himself for that bad decision, falling into a deep sense of depression and anxiety which impeded his will to fly again. Years later, in civilian life in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, a guilt-stricken Stryker goes through many jobs, and his marriage is in trouble. Stryker finds a note at home: His wife Ellen has taken their young son Joey and is leaving him, flying to
Vancouver. He rushes to
Winnipeg Airport to board the same flight, Cross-Canada Air Lines Flight 714, operated by a
Douglas DC-4. He asks his wife for one last chance, but Ellen says that she can no longer love a man she does not respect. Stewardess Janet Turner begins the meal service, offering meat or fish as the choices. When a number of passengers and the co-pilot begin feeling sick, a doctor aboard determines that the fish is the cause. The pilot also becomes seriously ill and cannot fly the airplane. Before he passes out, he turns on the
autopilot. The stewardess determines that Stryker is the only passenger with flying experience, but he has not flown in 10 years and has never piloted an aircraft of this size. Owing to dense fog, Flight 714 cannot land at
Calgary or any other airport east of the
Canadian Rockies but must continue to Vancouver. Stryker's superior officer in the war, the tough-minded Captain Treleaven, is summoned to
Vancouver Airport. Treleaven blames Stryker for the wartime deaths and has no faith in him. He has no choice but to work with him, though, getting him familiarized with the airplane and teaching him how to land. Ellen joins her husband in the cockpit to handle the radio. As they approach Vancouver, it is shrouded in fog. Treleaven orders him to circle, for hours if necessary, in the hope that it will lift, but Stryker decides to try to land immediately because passengers will die if they do not get medical treatment soon. Stryker makes a rough landing, but no passengers are injured. He has conquered his demons and regained the respect of both Ellen and Captain Treleaven. ==Cast==