A plane carrying 54 passengers-including television reporter Gale Gayley (Geena Davis)-crash-lands right in front of small-time crook Bernie LaPlante (Dustin Hoffman). The first person on the chaotic accident scene, he spontaneously risks his life and saves a plane full of people. But keeping to his credo "keep a low profile," Bernie disappears back into the rainy night. When Gale's TV station offers a $1 million reward for the identity of "The Angel of Flight 104," an impostor appears-homeless drifter John Bubber (Andy Garcia), who knows the right answers because he picked up the hitchhiking Bernie and heard his story. Anointed as a selfless hero, Bubber becomes a telegenic media darling. Bernie's unsuccessful efforts to bring the truth to light finally culminate in a climactic confrontation between the real hero and the impostor on the tenth-story ledge of the Drake Hotel.