Jo Harding (Helen Hunt) leads a team of scientists who are set to launch a contraption that can retrieve information from the eye of tornadoes. Bill (Bill Paxton), the inventor of the machine and Jo's ex-husband, arrives with his new fiancée Melissa just as a major storm is about to hit the area. Unable to resist the call of the wind, Bill rejoins his team in a dangerous chase after the mother of all tornadoes: the F5.