While Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) was flying to the United States, a coup created chaos in the European country from which it came.
Once undocked at the JKF airport in New York, he goes to immigration controls to see how his passport is invalidated because he belongs to a country that no longer exists.
This is how he is unable to return home, and at the same time, he cannot enter the United States either, conclusion: the airport becomes his home while waiting for the terrible situation that plagues his country to be resolved.
As the weeks and months go by Viktor discover a complex and absurd world, made up of the employees and passengers who pass through the terminal every day; he even finds love in a beautiful stewardess, Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones).
But he also finds the constant confrontation with the airport director Frank Dixon (Stanley tucci), for whom it is only a bureaucratic setback, which must be resolved as quickly as possible.