Airline pilot Captain Whip Whitaker snorts cocaine to stay alert after a long night of drinking in his Orlando hotel room with Katerina Marquez, a flight attendant he will be flying with later that morning. He pilots SouthJetAir Flight 227 to Atlanta, which experiences severe turbulence during takeoff. Meanwhile, amateur photographer and drug addict Nicole Maggen buys heroin and has an argument with her landlord. She suffers an overdose after injecting herself with the drug. On the SouthJetAir flight, co-pilot Ken Evans takes over while Whip discreetly mixes vodka in his orange juice and takes a nap. He is jolted awake as the plane suffers a mechanical fault and goes into a steep dive. Whip regains control by pulling out of the dive and rolling the aircraft inverted, flying over Nicole's motel, and makes a controlled crash-landing in an open field. On impact, Whip suffers a blow to his head and loses consciousness. Whip awakens in an Atlanta hospital with moderate injuries and is greeted by his old friend, Charlie Anderson, who represents the airline's pilots union. Whip learns his piloting skill managed to save 96 out of 102 aboard the plane, losing two crew members and four passengers. Evans is in a coma. Whip is then visited by friend and drug dealer Harling Mays, who proffers porn magazines, a carton of cigarettes, and a pint of vodka, the last of which Whip refuses. Whip sneaks away for a cigarette and meets Nicole, recovering from an overdose in the same hospital, along with a cheerful chemotherapy patient. The next morning, Mays picks up Whip from the hospital. Having retired to his late father's farm, Whip meets Charlie and attorney Hugh Lang, who explain that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) performed a drug test while he was unconscious. Results showed that Whip was intoxicated during the flight, although Hugh gets the toxicology report voided on technical grounds. Whip visits and becomes intimate with Nicole, but his drinking habits clash with Nicole's attempts to stay drug-free. Later, he attends a funeral for Katerina, who died in the crash. He sees a surviving crew member, Margaret, and asks her to tell the NTSB that he was sober. Whip pays a visit to Evans after he awakens from his coma. Evans has likely lost much of his ability to walk and may never pilot an airplane again. Although upset, Evans has no intention of telling the NTSB that Whip was drinking. Nicole decides to separate from Whip after he fails to stay sober and he spontaneously drives to the home of his ex-wife and son, both of whom resent him. Hounded by the media, he stays with Charlie until the NTSB hearing, vowing not to drink. The night before the hearing, Charlie and Hugh move Whip to a guarded hotel room with no alcohol. He finds the door to an adjacent room unlocked and raids the minibar there. The next morning, Charlie discovers Whip passed out drunk. Whip and Charlie call Harling to provide Whip with cocaine, hoping to get him alert enough to make it through the hearing. At the hearing, lead NTSB investigator Ellen Block explains that a damaged elevator assembly jackscrew was the primary cause of the crash. She commends Whip on his valor and skill, noting that no other pilot was able to land the plane in simulations of the crash. She then reveals that two empty vodka bottles were found in the plane's trash, despite beverages not being served to passengers, and that Whip's blood test was excluded for technical reasons. She then states the only other member of the crew to test positive for alcohol was Katerina. Whip pauses, unable to bring himself to blame Katerina for his actions. He collects himself and comes clean, admitting to being intoxicated the day of the crash. A tearful Whip also admits that he is presently drunk at the hearing and finally acknowledges that he has a problem, coming to terms with his alcoholism. Thirteen months later, an imprisoned Whip is lecturing a support group of fellow inmates. He mentions that not all of the deceased victims' families have come to forgive him, but he is glad to be sober and having done the right thing. He is also working to rebuild his relationships with Nicole and his son, who visits to interview Whip for a college application essay. He begins by asking, "Who are you?" As a plane flies overhead, Whip replies, "That's a good question."
