As a solo pilot for the nation's newly formed airmail service, Edgar Anscombe (Christopher Reeve), a man haunted by a tragic memory, has made a career of keeping to himself over the years. But one day he's unexpectedly assigned an involuntary passenger: the rebellious and outspoken Tillie Hansen (Rosanna Arquette), whose unrelenting impudence drives Edgar crazy. When their plane is forced to crash-land in a rugged and desolate mountain canyon, the unlikely companions find they have only one source of hope against the excruciating elements, the savage wilderness and a pack of hungry wolves: each other.

A young woman reluctantly agrees to be the world's first airline passenger, and, as luck would have it, the plane crashes. With the plane's pilot, she struggles to survive in a harsh mountain wilderness.