After losing their jobs on an oil field in the Mongolian desert, a group of workers must survive a plane crash in the desert. Led by pilot Frank Towns (Dennis Quaid) these men and one woman must survive the grueling heat and dangerous sand storms in desperate hope of making it home alive. After several days, the group realizes they will not be rescued and, with the prodding of odd duck Elliott (Giovanni Ribisi), decide to try and build a plane out of the wreckage. Fancying himself a miracle engineer, Elliott designs the plane and supervises the group on their dangerous quest to fly themselves out of the desert using only a wrecked plane and their spirits.