In April 1957, engineer Walter Faber (Sam Shepard) is waiting to board a flight from Caracas, Venezuela to New York City when he meets a German, Herbert Hencke (Dieter Kirchlechner), who reminds him of an old friend. Before takeoff, Walter decides not to board the airplane, but when a flight attendant discovers him still in the terminal, she escorts him aboard. During the flight, the airplane develops engine trouble and crash lands in the desert near the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains.