Unaware of the terror that awaits her and of the part played by the stranger she meets when her plane is delayed, Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is about to take the Red Eye to Miami on a nightmare journey.

The chance meeting, it turns out, is no accident and on board the plane, Lisa finds herself sitting next to the stranger whose name is Jackson (Cillian Murphy) and who now reveals the chilling reason why he is aboard. Jackson is part of a plan to kill Charles Keefe (Jack Scalia), a prominent government official and he tells Lisa that she is going to help him. He shows her a wallet that belongs to her father (Brian Cox) who will die at the hands of an assassin if she does not cooperate. All it takes is one phone call from Jackson. Any attempts by Lisa to thwart Jackson’s plans fail and, as the suspense is tightened, her chances of finding a way out become more and more unlikely.

The action does not remain airborne and, back on the ground, Lisa finds her one last chance to strike back, switching from cornered victim to take-charge heroine. In a tense race against time, she desperately tries to save her father and prevent the assassination attempt on Keefe.