Rayford Steele is an airline pilot whose marriage has deteriorated; he considers having an affair with a beautiful flight attendant named Hattie Durham. During a journey to London, a number of their passengers unexpectedly vanish, and chaos ensues as a number of ground and air vehicles become unmanned. Meanwhile, Buck Williams, a television journalist, is debating the spate of abrupt disappearances as he works on a piece about Dr. Chaim Rosenzweig, an Israeli scientist who has developed a formula for cultivating any soil on the planet. Buck begins to doubt Rosenzweig's credibility when he realizes the doctor is in cahoots with two multi-millionaires who intend to broker the innovation in order to advance their own objective of global dominance.