All members of the Tenenbaum family have unique abilities. For example, Ches has already achieved great success in the financial sphere at the age of 10, Richie is a gifted tennis player, Margot became a famous playwright at the age of 10. The children grew up and fluttered out of the parental nest, but the family decided to reunite when it became clear that the father of the family Royal Tenenbaum suffers from an incurable disease, and he has a little more than six weeks to live. During this time Royal will try to make up for lost time and give his children the attention they were deprived of as children.

A small private airplane, suddenly losing control, crashes at full throttle into a Columbia Airlines Boeing flying flight #409 from Washington, DC to Los Angeles. The co-pilot and flight engineer of the airliner are killed, and the captain of the ship loses his eyesight. Radio contact with the ground is lost. Stewardess Nancy Pryor, trying to calm the passengers, realizes that only a happy accident can save the plane rushing over the abyss...