Two survivalist groups board an airplane heading for a wilderness airstrip in the North Rocky Mountains. “The Blue Legion Survival School” is a war games course run by professional mercenary Jake Connor. “The North Rockies Survival Quest School” is led by Hank Chambers, who teaches self-sufficiency in a rigorous environment. Among Jake Connor’s dozen paramilitary students are Raider, Harper, and Checker. Joining Hank Chambers’s Survival Quest are recent divorcee Cheryl; reluctant bride Olivia; recently laid-off, middle-aged Hal; African American athlete Jeff; jokester Joey; and Gray Atkinson, a young robber assigned to Hank’s wilderness course as an alternative to the County Youth Authority jail. The pilot drops them off at an isolated airstrip and informs them he will be back in four weeks. The Blue Legion group heads into the wilderness, while the six Survival Quest students are met by Hank's assistant, Karen, who is angry that the Blue Legion is there. However, the pilot assures her that the paramilitary group’s usual drop-off point is inaccessible, and they will stay out of Hank’s way. Karen drives them to Hank Chambers’s cabin. Since the group’s first requirement is trust, Hank falls off the cabin roof, forcing them to catch him. Each in turn climbs onto the roof and falls into the arms of the others. Hank sets up “challenges,” such as helping each other climb a twelve-foot wall, rappelling on a rope down tall trees, and walking on rope bridges. At night, Gray Atkinson keeps his distance from the others. Walking in the woods, he sees a campfire and spies on the Blue Legion trainees as Jake Connor demonstrates how to grab a sentry and cut off his ear. Connor tells them they are predators who must be ready to kill in order to survive. The next day, the Blue Legionnaires stalk the hiking Survival Quest group, and when Joey stops to adjust his boots, Raider shoots him with paint pellets. Later, as Hal trails behind his comrades, Raider knocks him down and threatens him. However, Gray Atkinson jumps Raider, puts a switchblade knife to his face, and duplicates the mock removal of his ear that Jake demonstrated the night before. With a final kick, Gray leaves Raider writhing on the ground. During the march, Cheryl buckles under the weight of her backpack, and the others debate whether to share her load. Jeff complains that Cheryl should not have taken the course, but Gray insists they act as a team and help her. Hank stands back, letting his students reach their own decision. The group camps at a lake for the night. Meanwhile, Jake Connor’s legionnaires break into two groups, predators and prey, for a survival game. In the morning, Gray Atkinson grabs his backpack and leaves before the others awaken, but Hank Chambers stops him. When Gray pulls his switchblade, Hank disarms him and warns that he will not survive on his own. Gray rejoins the others. Cheryl promises to carry her full load, and the group gives her encouragement as she struggles up a hill. That night, Olivia and Cheryl talk about marriage. Olivia dreads her upcoming wedding to a man she does not love, and Cheryl confides that she does not want to get married again. The next morning, Hank demonstrates how to find and eat worms for protein. In an area leveled by a forest fire, he explains that fire cleanses and renews the wilderness. They use a rope to cross a dangerous waterfall. Later, as they watch two deer grazing, a gunshot drops one of the animals and several armed legionnaires rush forward and slit its throat. Hank Chambers intervenes by cutting off the deer’s ear, which bears a Forest Service tag. He informs Jake Connor that the unlicensed kill will cost the Blue Legion $750, and warns him to stay away from his hikers. After Hank walks away, Raider tries to “cheer” Jake for standing up to the Survival Quest leader, but Jake knocks him down. Later, Hank discovers that Jake’s paramilitary students have destroyed a footbridge, and the only way around the gorge is to climb over a mountain. As the group ascends, Joey suffers breathing problems that force them to stop for the night and build an igloo to fend off the freezing wind. They share sleeping bags to keep warm. The next day, as the group descends into warmer terrain, Hank presents another challenge: For the next three days, they will split up and survive solo, with nothing but first-aid kits, blankets, and notebooks for writing down their thoughts and observations. They must find their own food. Hank visits each one during the ordeal, and talks with Gray about his own tough boyhood in the foster care system that led him into the Boy Scouts. Later, when Gray sees Olivia swimming nude in a stream, he kills a snake and takes it to her to cook for dinner. After they eat by firelight, he kisses her goodnight and heads off alone again. Elsewhere, Jake Connor torments Raider and knocks him down. The next day, Raider finds Gray, threatens him at gunpoint, and calls him “jail trash.” As Hank Chambers sneaks up behind Raider to disarm him, his foot snaps a twig. The legionnaire whirls around and shoots him. Gray runs for cover, and Raider fires his rifle at the hikers watching from a hillside. Jake Connor arrives and knocks Raider down, but the mutinous legionnaire stabs him, then places the bloody knife in Hank’s hand. Hank opens his eyes, but plays dead. Raider explains to his comrades that Hank and “the convict” killed Jake, and that he shot Hank in self-defense. Raider sees Gray running and fires at him, but misses. He orders the others to hunt him down. Gray reaches the other hikers and tells them that Jake Connor and Hank Chambers are dead. As bullets fly, Cheryl takes charge of the group. They grab their backpacks and leap off a cliff into a fast-moving stream to get away. Regrouping downstream, they use a rope to climb over the water to a steep cliff on the other side, and then cut the rope behind them. Raider takes aim at Gray Atkinson, but Joey, using a slingshot, hits him with a rock. Meanwhile, the wounded Hank finds Jake Connor barely alive. He drags Jake to safety, builds a fire, and treats his own bullet wound with a fire-sterilized blade. That night, as Raider rages at the other legionnaires, Harper and Checker make plans to sneak away. The next day, Jeff apologizes for treating Cheryl badly during the first days of their adventure. The hikers eat berries, and when a bear cub takes a liking to Joey, its mother chases the group and eats their food. Harper and Checker join them, but Raider and the other legionnaires are close behind. Raider shoots Hal in the leg, forcing the others to slow down and help him. Checker returns to the legionaries to make peace, but Raider orders one of his men to kill him. Gray Atkinson sneaks behind the legionnaires, stabs one in the leg, and steals his rifle. He and other hikers float downriver on a large tree trunk, but abandon it just before they reach a waterfall. Meanwhile, Jake dies, and Hank buries him. He builds a large fire. That night, the hikers agree not to leave the hobbling Hal behind, despite Harper’s demand that they keep moving without him. Gray and Olivia kiss, and she worries about them being “sitting ducks” when they reach the airstrip. The next morning, Harper steals everybody's gear and sneaks away. Reaching the airstrip, he tries to make a “Mayday” call from the empty radio tower, but Raider cuts his throat and destroys the radio. When the Survival Quest group arrives, the legionnaires trap them in the tower, but Gray lures them away by running toward a nearby fuel tank next to a pond. A gunman wounds him, but as the legionnaires approach, Gray dives into the pond and shoots the tank. The blast kills the remaining paramilitary men. Gray’s fellow hikers help him out of the water as the airplane circles overhead. Sitting in the co-pilot’s seat is Hank Chambers, who tells the pilot the first thing he plans to teach his next survival class is how to send smoke signals.