The year is 1997. New York is a maximum security prison where hardcore criminals are put for life. All the bridges leading into the city are mined and and a large police force army is prepared to kill any attempted escapees. En route to an important conference, the President, on board Air Force One, is forced to eject in a pod when a terrorist takes over the controls and crashes the plane. Snake Plissken is offered his freedom if he goes in, frees the President and finds a tape with important information for the conference or he will die. Snake must set out into the decaying city, filled with immoral criminals, and he must succeed--for his own life