A commercial airliner crashes, killing all aboard except for one of the crew, a stewardess. Civil Aeronautics Board investigators blame pilot error, but the airline’s Director of Flight Operations, himself a pilot, refuses to accept that conclusion and demands that the inquiry probe deeper into all the circumstances that contributed to the disaster. The narrative explores the lives of passengers and crew as well as the technical operations of aircraft, the process of investigation, and the pressures brought to bear by relentless news media and industry politics.Also stars Rod Taylor, Mary Wickes and witrh a guest appearance by Jane Russell as herself.