On Christmas eve in 1999, passengers board Indian Airlines flight 814 in Kathmandu, Nepal. As the plane makes its usual short-haul journey back to New Delhi, five Pakistani terrorists take over the flight, demanding the release of militants held in an Indian prison. IC 814 makes several stops in Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai, before ending up in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where they are then confronted by the Taliban.