When Billy Covington (Robert Downey, Jr.) accepts a job to fly planes in laos, he expects to join a crew of civilian pilots flying in peaceful air zones. What he gets is Air America, a ragtag group of renegades dodging gunfire to run secret - and - shady missions for the CIA. As danger grows and the line between allies and enemies blurs, ?ly and Gene take a stand against the chaos and become something no one ever believed they could be: heros.