When Col. Ted Masters' (Tim Thomerson) plane goes down in an Arab country and he's sentenced to death for trespassing, his 18-year-old son, Doug (Jason Gedrick), is determined to save him. Unfortunately, Doug isn't the best fighter pilot -- he wasn't accepted into the Air Force because he needs to listen to music in order to hit a target. So he enlists the help of Col. Chappy (Louis Gossett Jr.) to borrow a couple of F-16 planes, fly across the Atlantic and start a rescue mission.

Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) is dying, apparently. This is good news, since his life was not much worth living anyway. On the upside, a strange millionaire (Lloyd Bridges) offers Joe a way to die with meaning and dignity: by hurling himself into a volcano. With plenty of spending cash and an ensemble of new luggage, Joe embarks on an absurdist journey to his demise, guided by two very disparate sisters, and trying to puzzle out the meaning of existence.

Just-paroled army ranger Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) is headed back to his wife (Monica Potter), but must fly home aboard a prison transport flight dubbed "Jailbird" with some of the worst criminals living. Along with Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames) and Baby-O (Mykelti Williamson), genius serial killer Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (John Malkovich) unleashes a violent escape plot in mid-flight. Secretly working with U.S. Marshall Vince Larkin (John Cusack), Poe tries to foil Grissom's plan.