After taking off from Vancouver, a Canadian Western Airways Douglas DC-3 airliner catches on fire and crashes in the Canadian north. On board were two young children, Don (Lee Aaker) and Janet Heldon (Linda Lowell), ultimately the only survivors. Their father, pilot Vince Heldon (Howard Keel) and his wife Julie (Jane Greer) join forces with the family friend, bush pilot "Brandy" (Keenan Wynn) and Nora Stead (Patricia Medina), the children's mother (from an earlier, but unsuccessful marriage) to mount a desperate aerial search before incoming bad weather arrives.