Architectural designer Doug (Paul Newman) hopes to abandon his work and embark on a long-planned journey when the San Francisco skyscraper he designed is completed. However, at this time, an alarm signal comes from the main warehouse. With the assistance of Harry, the building's command center, Doug finds out that the safe terminal cabinet has no insulation protection, and the circuitry of the entire building is far from meeting his design requirements. Building builder Duncan and son-in-law Roger lowered the building's fire protection specifications in order to save construction costs. Duncan and a group of celebrities from all walks of life gathered at the 135th floor ballroom to celebrate the completion of the building. The electrical system was overwhelmed and finally triggered an open fire. Doug and fire chief Mike (Steve McQueen), who came to put out the fire, urged Duncan to evacuate the crowd. The fire in the skyscraper with inadequate fire-fighting facilities quickly became uncontrollable. Doug, Harry and Mike's firefighters each did their best to rescue the crowd, but the raging fire seemed to devour everything...
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