The Langoliers is a novella written by Stephen King. It was first published in 1990. It was adapted as a miniseries in 1995.
Plot[]
Pilot Brian Engle, immediately after a difficult flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles, learns that his ex-wife Anne has died in an accident in Boston, and he boards a red-eye flight to Boston as a passenger. A flight attendant speaks of an unusual phenomenon over the Mojave Desert that resembles an aurora. Brian falls asleep during takeoff, having been awake throughout his previous flight. Dinah Bellman, a young blind girl with psychic abilities, also falls asleep, and awakes to find that her aunt and several other passengers have disappeared. Dinah, mistaking a wig for a scalp, screams and awakes Brian and nine other passengers: teacher Laurel Stevenson, English diplomat Nick Hopewell, writer Bob Jenkins, violinist Albert Kaussner and his girlfriend Bethany Simms, businessman Rudy Warwick, mechanic Don Gaffney, bank manager Craig Toomy and an unknown heavily intoxicated passenger. The passengers find that the crew and the passengers who were awake have disappeared, leaving the airliner under the control of the autopilot. Brian takes control of the plane, but is unable to make any outside contact, and the passengers can only see a dark void below the plane. Brian manages to land in Bangor, Maine despite furious protests from Craig, who insists on reaching Boston for an important conference that will decide his fate.
Upon arrival, they find the airport deserted. The clocks have stopped, there is no electricity, and the environment seems generally lifeless. As all products and substances have lost their quality, fuel does not burn, thus preventing any further flight. Dinah hears an approaching and threatening sound, and the group agrees to leave before it arrives. The unhinged Craig considers the situation to be a conspiracy against him and takes Bethany hostage at gunpoint, but the environment has robbed the gun of its potency, and the passengers apprehend Craig. Bob concludes that the aforementioned phenomenon was a "time rip" that has sent their plane to the past. As Dinah reports that the sound is growing closer, Craig relates to Dinah and Laurel that the sound is emitted by the "Langoliers", which are said by his oppressive father to hunt and devour negligent and unmotivated boys. Albert theorizes that time is still flowing inside the plane, which is proven when food brought onto the plane is restored to its normal properties. With the realization that fuel pumped into the plane will also return to normal, Brian has the plane refueled and he manages to start the engines. Meanwhile, Craig frees himself from his bonds and stabs Dinah, perceiving her to be the main Langolier. Despite this, Dinah insists that Craig must not be killed as the group needs him alive. As Albert and Don search for a stretcher for Dinah, Craig kills Don before Albert subdues him. Dinah, while being transported onto the plane, telepathically leads Craig to the runway, where he hallucinates his board meeting. The Langoliers appear in the form of toothed spherical creatures, and they are distracted from the departing plane as they devour Craig and the surrounding reality.
Bob proposes that the Langoliers' purpose is to clean up what is left of the past by devouring it. Dinah succumbs to her injuries, and the plane approaches the time rip. Bob realizes that the passengers must be asleep when passing through the rip, otherwise they will disappear. Albert suggests lowering the cabin pressure to induce unconsciousness, which would require one passenger to sacrifice themself by remaining conscious to restore the pressure just before the plane passes through the rip. Nick volunteers, wishing to atone for mistakenly shooting and killing three Irish children, and he asks Laurel to go to his father to request forgiveness. Nick, wearing an emergency oxygen mask, flies the plane through the rip and disappears. Brian awakes and lands the plane at Los Angeles, but the passengers are again met with a deserted airport. Realizing that they are in the near future, the passengers take shelter against a wall to avoid the airport's human traffic and wait for the present to catch up to them. A wave of rising noise and motion hits them and they find themselves in the present again.