Captain Dennis Parker lands at Big Thunder in a state of shock, repeatedly recalling his experiences in the Korean War. Steve and Major Karl Richmond, a doctor, try to determined what triggered Parker's relapse.
Steve and his team are pushed to their mental and physical limits in a training exercise where they meet another USAF team in the Mid-Atlantic to prepare for an attack on enemy fortifications.
Steve goes to visit Lisa, last seen in The Gift, and finds that Red agents have kidnapped her, holding her hostage in exchance for her father Karolyi, a Hungarian underground leader.
Canyon and Police Chief Hagedorn investigates the death of the wife of a Big Thunder airman—a Czechoslovakian war bride victimized by a blackmail scheme.
Canyon and Major Willie Williston are kidnapped by three men who take over their plane. Their captors rob the Penrose Air Base Bank, use the plane for their getaway, then bail out over Mexico, leaving Canyon and Williston tied up aboard the plane.
A prizefighter training at Big Thunder for a championship fight gives a sparring partner an unmerciful beating. Airman Featherstone, a former professional boxer, decides to provoke the vicious fighter into a grudge match.
Canyon purchases a carved wooden monkey from an eager peddler before leaving Taipei. Back at Big Thunder Air Force Base, he finds that the wooden carving has placed an Air Force nurse and himself in danger.
Steve explains the meaning of Christmas to a little girl, Lisa, that has never experienced it, after meeting her while transporting a group of orphans to German to spend the holiday with servicemen's families there.
After one of his crew falls ill with spinal meningitis while enroute to California from Brazil, Steve has further trouble with his landing gear and is hesitant to risk the crewman by crashing the plane.
When Canyon and his crew attempt to set a new round-the-world nonstop speed record in a B-52 taking off from Morocco, newsman Ben Radin—who hates service-men—is aboard.
When a pilot who has received many commendations during his time in service is court-martialed for reckless flying and negligence, he asks Canyon to defend him.
Canyon is accidentally thrown out of a plane while observing a training jump by Air Force paramedics. Although Canyon parachutes to safety, the drillmaster bails out in an effort to help Canyon and fractures his leg upon landing. The two men find themselves lost in wild mountain country, miles from civilization.moreless
Steve and his friend Major Pitch Hammer are selected to have their vital signs and brainwaves monitor while flying around the world in fighter planes. During the flight, Hammer's monitoring equipment picks up a flutter in his heart.
Steve takes on a dangerous experiment involving launching F-100 Super Sabres from platforms with rocket boosters after another pilot is injured in a test run.
Canyon is given command of a mission which calls for a fueling ship to tow three jets which are to be cut loose when an enemy missile is sighted. But on the test flight one of the planes develops engine trouble, endangering all four planes on the mission.