Inclement weather has delayed a flight from London's Heathrow Airport to New York City. A cross-section of elite passengers waits to board the plane as they experience various life crises. Among them: Frances (Elizabeth Taylor), a woman fleeing a loveless marriage to her millionaire husband, Paul (Richard Burton) ; a duchess (Margaret Rutherford) who has fallen on hard times; and Gloria (Elsa Martinelli), an aspiring actress accompanied by her money-grubbing producer, Max (Orson Welles).