The novel takes place in January 1967, on Friday evening from 18.30 to 1.30 at night at the International Airport. Lincoln in Illinois. For three days and three nights, a severe storm is raging over the Midwestern states; all airfield services operate with extreme stress. About a hundred aircraft of two dozen airlines did not take off in time on time, a lot of cargo accumulated in warehouses, including perishable ones. One runway crashed: the Boeing 707 rolled off its concrete pavement and got stuck in the muddy ground under snow. Chaos reigns in the terminal building, waiting rooms are packed to capacity, thousands of passengers are waiting for departure, some flights are delayed, while others are completely canceled. Despite the end of the working day, Mel Bakersfeld airport manager is in no hurry to go home, the situation on the airfield is difficult: powerful snow removal equipment is working at the limit, a car with food has disappeared in a blizzard, and it is still impossible to move the stuck plane. Of course, his personal presence is not so necessary here, but Mel has troubled souls, I don’t want to leave a huge airdrome facility unattended at such a difficult moment - a complex mechanism where everything is interconnected. He has to solve a lot of various issues, manifesting himself not only as a good administrator, but also as a tactician. The main reason is that recently Mel has been trying to stay at home as little as possible, avoiding quarrels with his wife Cindy. Their marriage has been going on for fifteen years, but family life has failed. They have two daughters - the thirteen-year-old Roberta and the seven-year-old Libby, but over the years, the couple moved more and more away from each other, disagreements grew into constant scandals and complete misunderstanding. Tonight, Cindy constantly calls her husband, recalling the need for his presence at a charity evening. She likes social life, while Mel is burdened when his wife pulls him to the next event. He ironically refers to Cindy’s desire to get into the Directory of Famous People at all costs. Cindy has an affair with the architect Lionel Erkart, but she does not miss the chance to have another affair. At a charity evening, she meets reporter Derik Eden, and, leaving the annoying bunch, they spend their time in the hotel perfectly. Mel has long been fond of Tanya Livingston, Trans-America’s senior passenger service agent, and she is very sympathetic to him, with rumors among colleagues that they have an affair. Tanya is thirty-seven years old, she is raising a five-year-old daughter alone. Today she has a restless duty, a nervous situation gives rise to conflict situations between staff and passengers, she has to sort out complaints, and then she’s discovered a “hare” - the cunning old woman Ada Kvonsett from San Diego, who has a lot of tricks in her arsenal that allow her to freely board the plane and travel around the country without a ticket.
In a radar brother Mela Keys is on duty. No one knows that he has already determined everything for himself: the last time he sits in front of the screen and watches. He rented a hotel room near the airport terminal, where he decided to commit suicide after the shift by taking forty tablets of Nembutal. Dispatchers today are working at their maximum capacity, and Case is having a hard time, he has long lost his former dexterity and self-confidence, although he used to be an experienced worker. He is thirty-eight years old, of which one and a half dozen he worked in the air surveillance service. A year and a half ago, when he served in the Libergov Observation Center, two aircraft collided in the air due to his oversight, a family of four died, two of them children. During the investigation, the partner Keiza, an intern and a senior in the group, was found guilty, but Case thought that the fault lay entirely with him. Because of him, people were killed, the lives of colleagues suspended from aviation were broken. He lost peace and sleep, feels remorse and emotional anguish. Kase's wife Natalie and Mel did their best to get him out of depression, but to no avail.
The same evening, residents of the nearby town of Meadowwood, who are annoyed by the noise of aircraft, intend to hold a protest demonstration at the airport. Passer lawyer Elliot Fremantle volunteers to help them sue, hoping to make good money on this business.
To move the stuck plane, they call the chief mechanic Joe Patroni from the city, but he gets into a traffic jam on the way to the airfield, - a car with a trailer capsized on the highway.
Chalk is annoyed: the airfield was built in the late fifties and until recently was considered one of the best and most modern in the world, but traffic volumes increased and the airfield became outdated. The runways are overloaded, creating a life-threatening situation for passengers, planes landed and took off on intersecting runways, and city officials cuddled in the cost of reconstruction. The future of Mela is also connected with the future of the airport. It was unpleasant when the wife, wanting to hurt more, called him a loser. He is already forty-four years old, he fought in Korea in naval aviation and was wounded; in such bad weather as today, a crippled leg aches. His career seemed to be developing successfully, at one time he headed the Council of Airport Leaders, was friends with President John F. Kennedy, they were going to put him at the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, but after the Kennedy assassination Mel "dropped out of the cage", he did not shine.
Today, a Trans-America plane is flying to Rome, piloted by Vernon Dimrest, husband of Mel's older sister. He has a rather tense relationship with his son-in-law. Before the flight, Dimarest visits her stewardess Gwen Meigen. His excellent mood, fueled by rainbow dreams, how well they both spend time in Italy, is somewhat overshadowed by Gwen's message that she is pregnant, but he does not see any special problems in this, the company helps to settle such matters.
Meanwhile, the former construction contractor D.O. Guerrero, embittered and driven to the extreme by his failures, in his wretched apartment, from where he should be evicted in the near future, is making an explosive device from dynamite drafts. After his construction company went bankrupt, he tried to engage in land speculation, but got confused, now he was threatened with criminal prosecution and imprisonment. Guerrero took on credit a ticket for a Trans-America plane that flew to Rome tonight, hoping to insure himself at the airport for a large sum, and to blow up the plane during the flight. The family will be able to get insurance, because the cause of what happened will not be established - the wreckage of the aircraft will be in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
And the plane to Rome is preparing to fly. I handed over one of the four engines, electricians and mechanics urgently fix the problem. Departure is delayed by an hour, due to snow drifts on the passengers of this flight do not have time to get to the airport on time. Guerrero acts according to a carefully developed plan, he will carry the explosive device aboard the aircraft in a suitcase. The cashier, however, is alarmed that the passenger of the international flight sets off on the road without baggage, but he does not attach much importance to this circumstance. At the counter where insurance is issued, the employee notes the nervous-excited state of the passenger concluding a contract for a significant amount, but it is not in her interests to lose a profitable customer. Guerrero's wife Ines, who worked as a waitress in a bar, returned home, to her surprise, finds a document showing that her husband had suddenly gone to Italy. Very alarmed, she hurries to the airfield to find out the circumstances.
The strange behavior of the passenger with a suspicious suitcase attracts the attention of the customs inspector, but he is no longer in the line of duty, at a meeting he talks about this fact to Tanya. But the plane to Rome had already taken off, and the number of passengers did not match the number of tickets sold - this ubiquitous old woman decided to travel.
Seeing that something was wrong with his brother, Mel intends to talk heart to heart, but Cindy, who has appeared to her husband to demand a divorce, does not allow this. Arriving at the Ines airport, who wants to report on her husband’s strange act, she also does not manage to get to Mel’s reception: at this time he is busy with negotiations with a delegation of protesting residents of Meadowwood. Finally, Tanya manages to inform the manager of the suspicions that arose regarding one of the passengers on the last flight. A conversation with Iney and a quick investigation confirm the suggestion of Guerrero's possible intention to blow up the plane. On special communications aboard give a warning radiogram. The crew decides to go back, but for now try to take hold of the suitcase in Guerrero’s hands. Adu Kvonsett, who turned out to be his neighbor, is involved in the case. The acting talent of the old woman helps to play the scene and take possession of the suitcase, but it spoils the intervention of one of the passengers. Having pulled out a suitcase, Guerrero throws himself into the tail of the plane, an explosion is heard. The fuselage is damaged, the aircraft is depressurized. On board the panic, passengers hurriedly put on oxygen masks. Stewardess Gwen Meigen is seriously injured. Thanks to the skill and courage of the chief mechanic, Joe Patroni is finally able to free the second strip of the airfield. Case, who is in distress, is brought in to Case, who masterfully copes with the assignment. The experience makes him abandon the idea of suicide, he goes home with the firm intention to leave the aircraft and start a new life. And Mel, dreaming of rest and peace of mind, leaves with Tanya. Buran ends, the situation at the airport is gradually normalizing.
