Ex-fighter airplane pilot and cab driver Ted Striker (Henry M. Robert Will Hays) become traumatized during the War, lead to a pathologic fearfulness of fly. As a consequence, he is unable to keep a responsible job. His wartime girlfriend, Elaine Emily Dickinson (Julie Hagerty), now a flight attender, leave him. Striker nervously board a Boeing 707 from Los Angeles to Windy City on which she is serve, hope to win her back, but she rebuff him.