In an unknown Balkan city-state – "a place that calls itself Rome " – riots are in progress after stores of grain are withheld from citizens and civil liberties are reduced due to a war between Rome and neighbouring Volsci. The rioters are particularly angry at Caius Martius, a brilliant Roman general whom they blame for the city's problems. During a march, the rioters encounter Martius, who is openly contemptuous and does not hide his low opinion of the regular citizens. The commander of the Volscian army, Tullus Aufidius, who has fought Martius on several occasions and considers him a mortal enemy, swears that the next time they meet in battle will be the last. Martius leads a raid against the Volscian city of Corioles; much of Martius's unit is killed, but he gathers reinforcements and the Romans take the city. After the battle, Martius and Aufidius meet in single combat, which results in both men being wounded but ends when Aufidius's soldiers drag him away from the fight. Martius returns to Rome victorious, and in recognition of his great courage, General Cominius gives him the agnomen of "Coriolanus". Coriolanus's mother Volumnia encourages her son to run for consul within the Roman Senate. Coriolanus is reluctant but eventually agrees to his mother's wishes. He easily wins the Roman Senate and seems at first to have won over the commoners as well due to his military victories. Two tribunes, Brutus and Sicinius, are critical of his entrance into politics, fearing that his popularity would lead to Coriolanus taking power away from the Senate for himself. They scheme to undo Coriolanus and so stir up another riot in opposition to him becoming consul. When they call Coriolanus a traitor, Coriolanus bursts into rage and openly attacks the concept of popular rule as well as the citizens of Rome, demonstrating that he still holds the plebeians in contempt. He compares allowing citizens to have power over the senators as to allowing "crows to peck the eagles". The tribunes term Coriolanus a traitor for his words and order him banished. Coriolanus retorts that he will banish Rome from his presence: "There is a world elsewhere". After being exiled from Rome, Coriolanus seeks out Aufidius in the Volscian capital of Antium and offers to let Aufidius kill him, to spite the country that banished him. Moved by his plight and honoured to fight alongside the great general, Aufidius and his superiors embrace Coriolanus and allow him to lead a new assault on the city so that he can claim vengeance on the city which he feels betrayed him. Coriolanus and Aufidius lead a Volscian attack on Rome. Panicked, Rome sends General Titus to persuade Coriolanus to halt his crusade for vengeance; when Titus reports his failure, Senator Menenius follows but is also shunned. In response, Menenius, who has seemingly lost all hope in Coriolanus and Rome, commits suicide by a river bank. Finally, Volumnia is sent to meet with her son, along with Coriolanus's wife Virgilia and his son. Volumnia succeeds in dissuading her son from destroying Rome and Coriolanus makes peace between the Volscians and the Romans alongside General Cominius. When Coriolanus returns to the Volscian border, he is confronted by Aufidius and his men, who now also brand him as a traitor. They call him Martius and refuse to call him by his "stolen name" of Coriolanus. Aufidius explains to Coriolanus how he put aside his hatred so that they could conquer Rome but now that Coriolanus has prevented this, he has betrayed the promise between them. For this betrayal, Aufidius and his men attack and kill Coriolanus.

In late 1969, helicopter pilot Billy Covington has his pilot's license suspended for breaking safety regulations. His skills, bravery and disregard for the law are noticed by a government agent, who offers him a job in Laos working for the "strictly civilian" company Air America, which turns out to be a front for CIA operations. In Laos, he is introduced to Air America's unorthodox pilots and aircraft, being taken under the wing of pilot Gene Ryack, who uses official flights to buy black market weapons for his private cache. Senator Davenport arrives to investigate rumors that Air America is transporting drugs for Laotian forces. Major Lemond and Rob Diehl, CIA leaders of Air America, show the Senator around Laos to prevent him discovering that the rumors are true. Unfortunately, Davenport loses great respect from General Soong during their first meeting at the airport when mistaking him to be a local luggage-carrying valet. Soong holds this over Davenport's head for the remainder of his visit. While airdropping livestock in their C-123 cargo aircraft, Billy and Jack Neely are shot down, but Billy manages to crash-land the C-123 at a former World War II Japanese airstrip. The Pilatus PC-6 of General Soong arrives at the crash site and his soldiers load up with the opium from the crashed plane, but intentionally leave Billy and Jack behind while local Communist forces are moving in. Gene and another pilot rescue them; Billy boards Gene's helicopter. Billy and Gene are shot down after a short time in the air and captured by a tribe. Gene strikes a deal to supply them with better weapons. At Gene's house, Billy is surprised to discover that Gene has a wife and children. Disillusioned with U.S. actions in Laos, Gene convinces Billy to quit his job, but Billy wants to get even with General Soong. Davenport is losing patience and demands to know who is smuggling heroin. Learning that Jack has been killed, Lemond and Diehl claim he was the ring leader behind the drug trafficking. Billy blows up the heroin factory, but guards see him running away. Davenport demands more concrete evidence. Gene finds a buyer for his arsenal, allowing him to quit Air America and take his family out of Laos. Billy accepts one more flight, taking flour to a refugee camp when he is instructed to divert for "routine inspection." Suspecting a setup, Billy inspects the cargo and finds heroin. He crash-lands on the same airstrip where he crashed earlier and uses the wreckage of the previous crash to hide the aircraft. Davenport recognizes the nature of the setup and threatens to reveal Lemond and Diehl's operation to Washington. Major Lemond in return silences Senator Davenport by daring him to say what he thinks he saw in Laos but reveals that his own political connections involving a friendship with the President would only ruin Davenport's political career. Gene, on his way to make his final weapons delivery, rescues Billy. They respond to a distress call from a refugee camp caught in crossfire. The official in charge of the camp refuses to leave without the refugees. Gene reluctantly dumps the weapons to make room for the refugees, with much pressure from Billy, and blows up their cache to cover the escape. In the air, Gene and Billy hatch a scheme to sell the aircraft to recoup Gene's money. In the postscript of the closing credits, it is revealed that General Soong makes it to America eventually and gets his dream of owning and operating a Holiday Inn, that Gene wins a lottery in Thailand in 1975, and that Billy is deported from Thailand for fixing the same lottery in order for Gene to win.

Doug Masters, son of veteran USAF pilot Colonel Ted Masters, is a hotshot civilian pilot hoping to follow in his father's role. He receives a notice of rejection from the USAFA and Colonel Masters has been shot down and captured by the fictional Arab state of Bilya while patrolling over the Mediterranean Sea. Though the incident occurred in international waters, the Arab state's court finds Colonel Masters guilty of trespassing on its territory and sentences him to hang in three days. Deciding that the U.S. government will do nothing to save Colonel Masters' life, Doug devises his own rescue mission. He requests the help of Col. Charles "Chappy" Sinclair, a Vietnam veteran pilot currently in the Air Force Reserve, who, though he did not know Colonel Masters personally, had a favorable encounter with him years earlier and "knew the type." Chappy is initially skeptical but Doug convinces him that, with his friends, he has full access to the airbase's intelligence and resources and can give him an F-16 fighter for the mission. To Doug's surprise, Chappy had already begun planning a rescue operation after learning the outcome of Colonel Masters' trial. The team of Chappy and Doug devises a meticulously planned mission and procures two heavily armed F-16B jets, with Doug flying the second. On the day of Colonel Masters' scheduled execution, Doug and Chappy fly their jets to the Mediterranean Sea and cross into Bilyan airspace. The Bilyan military responds and in the ensuing battle, Doug and Chappy take out three fighters and destroy an airfield, with Chappy's plane being hit by anti-aircraft fire. He tells Doug to climb to a high altitude and play the tape he made the night before. Doug then listens as Chappy's engine fails and crashes into the Mediterranean Sea. Chappy's recorded voice gives Doug encouragement and details that help him to complete the mission and rescue Colonel Masters. Making the enemy believe he is leading a squadron, Doug threatens the enemy state into releasing Colonel Masters for pickup at an airfield. Before Doug lands his F-16, Colonel Masters is shot by a sniper, causing Doug to destroy the airbase and engulf the runway with napalm to keep the army at bay while he lands and picks up his wounded father. Just as they take off, Doug and Colonel Masters encounter another group of MiGs led by Col. Akir Nakesh, himself an ace pilot. The lone F-16 and Nakesh's MiG engage in a dogfight until a missile from Doug finishes off Nakesh. Low on fuel and ammunition, the F-16 is pursued by the other enemy MiGs when a flight of U.S. Air Force F-16s appears, warding off the MiGs before escorting Doug and Colonel Masters to Ramstein Air Base in West Germany. While Colonel Masters is being treated for his wounds, Doug is reunited with Chappy, who had ejected from his plane and was picked up by an Egyptian fishing trawler. The two are summoned by an Air Force judiciary panel for their reckless actions. Seeing that any punishment for the duo would expose an embarrassing lapse in Air Force security, the panel forgoes prosecution, provided that Doug and Chappy never speak of their operation to anyone. In addition, Chappy convinces the panel to grant Doug admission to the Air Force Academy. Days later, a plane assigned by the President returns to the U.S., reuniting Doug, Chappy and Colonel Masters with family and friends.

In late 1682 northern Italy, Catholic monk Marco d'Aviano is known far and wide for his ability to perform miracles. Crowds gather to watch him speak, hoping that he can perform a miracle to stop the advancing Ottoman Empire. The ruler of the Ottomans, Sultan Mehmed IV, appoints Kara Mustafa Pasha as his Grand Vizier. Kara Mustafa seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate across Europe and is notorious for turning Christian churches in conquered territories into mosques. Kara Mustafa terrifies Europe after informing the Sultan that he intends to march the Ottoman military into Rome, conquering the city and turning St. Peter's Basilica into a mosque. Kara Mustafa shows his favorite wife, Leila, an amulet that was given to him by a man after he saved him from dying in an accident while visiting Venice. Leila tells Kara Mustafa that she is troubled by a recurring dream where he is killed by arrows fired from hundreds of archers after a monk holds up a cross. Disturbed by this, Kara Mustafa consults a kahin, who predicts that Kara will see much blood, but the blood will not be his. Before Kara Mustafa leaves for Europe with his army, he gives the amulet to his tearful son, promising that the amulet means he will return. A comet with a red tail is seen, and is taken by both Kara Mustafa and Marco as a sign of victory. Marco stops an angry mob, stirred up by anti-Ottoman sentiment, from killing one of his friends, a Muslim named Abu'l. However, despite this, Abu'l leaves his deaf wife behind to assist the Ottomans in their invasion of Europe. The ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Leopold I requests Marco's presence in Vienna for advice on current events. Marco arrives and informs the shocked Emperor that the Ottomans have broken their peace treaty and are heading towards Vienna, having already advanced to Hungary. Marco suggests that Leopold ally himself with Saxony, Bavaria and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Leopold disregards Marco's advice. Leopold's daughter, the Duchess of Lorena, is suffering from breast cancer, and Marco miraculously heals her disease. She encourages her father to listen to Marco's advice. The number of troops in Vienna soon grows to 50,000, vastly outnumbered by the 300,000 man Ottoman army. At this time, Kara Mustafa instructs Abu'l to serve as his translator, instructing the people of Vienna to surrender to the Ottomans. Abu'l's wife, Lena, who accompanied Marco to Vienna, is shocked to see her husband working with the Ottomans. That night, she sneaks into the camp to speak to him, only to be captured by the Ottomans. Abu'l is asked if he knows her, and he says no. She is then brought to the other captive women who are being used as sex slaves for the army, but Abu'l later pays to have her released. The Tartars arrive, warning Kara to protect the rear of their army from the Polish, but he ignores this advice. The Turks use cannons to destroy Vienna’s walls and attack the city. The forces defending Vienna suffer heavy casualties and begin to doubt if they will stop the Ottomans from taking the city. However, at this time, the Polish arrive, led by King Jan III Sobieski. The largely protestant forces of Vienna do not want to listen to the Catholic Polish king, but Marco convinces them to do so. Sobieski plans a desperate charge from the top of the Kahlenberg mountain behind the Ottoman forces, where they will least expect an attack. Kara Mustafa realizes that the man he saved all those years ago in Venice was actually Marco. Curious, he has Abu’l arrange for a meeting with Marco. The two men discuss the differences between Islamic submission and Christian virtues, and Marco tries in vain to convince Kara Mustafa to abandon his attack on the city. On September 11, 1683, Marco gives a speech to the army urging them to defend their Christian faith and western civilization from destruction. Using strategy and traps, the Ottoman cavalry suffers heavy casualties. When the Ottomans are weak, the Polish troops on top of the Kahlenberg attack from the rear and win the battle. Following this defeat, the Ottomans never again march into western Europe. Kara Mustafa is enraged at the loss and admonishes his tacticians, who angrily inform him that he was the one who did not listen to their concerns about artillery on top of the Kahlenberg. Kara Mustafa appears to charge at the troops on horseback, only to be killed by arrows. However, it is determined that this was merely a decoy, and the real Kara Mustafa fled from the battle. On Christmas Day, 1683, Sultan Mehmed orders Kara Mustafa's son to watch his execution as punishment for failing to capture Vienna and fleeing from the battle in cowardice. After the execution, Kara Mustafa's son throws the amulet his father gave him in the snow.