圣诞节前夕，空气中弥漫着节日的气息，“越州47”航班上，坐满了即将赶回家中同亲人们团聚的乘客，其中，有两个人显得是那样的格格不入，他们是穷凶极恶的罪犯史达斯（布莱丹·格里森 Brendan Gleeson 饰）和韦弗（雷·利奥塔Ray Liotta 饰），两人被四名警察押解着，前往洛杉矶。
最坏的情况发生了，史达斯袭击了警察，击毙了机长，一时间，飞机进入了无人驾驶的危险状态。就在这个节骨眼上，机智的空姐泰利（罗伦·荷莉 Lauren Holly 饰）果断出手，飞机重新回到了掌控之中，然而，真正危险的不仅仅是前方即将飞入的雷暴区，还有阴险狡诈，杀人如麻，对泰利垂涎已久的韦弗。

本片的原型是一部与之同名的书，片中引用了大量的参战士兵写的、来往与美越之间的信函的原稿，令人不禁百感交集。在念诵信件的同时，一些新闻片、家庭录影和静态照片，以当时的音乐以及特殊的时代背景作为烘托，一一展现在人们眼前。这部接近两个小时的电影中，很多段落的朗诵都是由着名的演员担纲。参与该片制作是合作制作人比尔·克图里，他曾经凭借《越南安魂曲》和《越战老兵合唱团》获得艾美奖。

Set in Kansas during the early 1900s, a teen-aged Native American boy (newcomer Winter Fox Frank) is..

In the tradition of The Twilight Zone, this bizarre, thought-provoking trilogy addresses the destiny of the world's minorities: Part I: A conservative African American politician must choose between his people's survival and appeasing his white colleagues when space aliens propose to share their profound knowledge in exchange for all black people on earth. Part II: The Virgin Mary's appearance in an inner-city housing project forces a Hispanic priest to face the hidden cultural origins of Western religion. Part III: On the dawn of the "Black Revolution," an African American couple discovers who the "real" enemy is.

Three different police chiefs in three different eras become involved in a growing mystery -- who is the mass murderer behind the killing of transient youths in and around the fictional southern town of Delano over a forty year period?