When cargo-plane pilot Frank Towns (Dennis Quaid) and co-pilot AJ (Tyrese Gibson) are sent to evacuate the staff of an oil exploration operation that has been shut down, they become stranded in the Mongolian desert with no hope of rescue. The mismatched team of survivors must put aside their differences and attempt to build a new plane--The Phoenix--from the wreckage of the old one, in hopes of flying back to civilization.