Robin Monroe is a New York editor for Dazzle, a fashion magazine. Her boyfriend Frank, surprises her with a week-long holiday on Makatea, an island in the South Pacific. The final leg of their journey to Makatea is in a dilapidated de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, piloted by middle-aged American, Quinn Harris. They are accompanied by Quinn's young girlfriend Angelica. On their first night on the island, Frank proposes to Robin, who happily accepts. At a bar, a drunken Quinn, who does not recognize Robin, unsuccessfully hits on her. The next morning, Robin's boss wants her to briefly interrupt her vacation to fly to Tahiti to supervise a fashion event. She hires Quinn to fly her there, but a thunderstorm forces them to crash-land on a deserted island, ripping off the plane's wheel. Quinn believes they are on an island that has a signal beacon on a high hill. If he can disable it, a repair crew will be sent. After climbing a high hill, they discover they are on a different island. Back on Makatea, Frank and Angelica accompany the aerial search party for their missing partners, but after several days, the search is called off. Frank, believing Robin is dead, gets drunk and sleeps with Angelica after she seduces him. After spotting two boats moored off the island, Robin and Quinn begin rowing to them in Quinn's raft. They soon realize that pirates have captured and killed one boat's occupants. The pirates see Quinn and Robin and chase them back to the island. The two narrowly escape. While hiding in the jungle, they discover a crashed World War II Japanese float plane. They salvage the pontoons and attach them to Quinn's damaged plane. As they are about to take off, the pirates again begin shelling the beach. They stupidly destroy their own boat while shooting at them with a small cannon as they fly overhead. Quinn is injured, but Robin is able to land the plane on Makatea's beach, where their memorial service is in progress. Frank is ecstatic that Robin is alive, but secretly is disgusted with himself for sleeping with Angelica. Robin visits Quinn in the hospital and confesses her feelings for him, but he says their lives are too different. As Robin and Frank are about to fly back to New York, she tells Frank she does not want to get married. Frank confesses he slept with Angelica and she reveals her feelings for Quinn. They realize they are not in love and Robin returns Frank's engagement ring. Quinn has a change of heart and rushes to the airport, but is apparently too late. He then encounters Robin getting off the airplane, having stopped the flight. They see each other and embrace.
The film features stunt work with aircraft. The effects were produced without CGI assistance. The crash scene of the de Havilland Beaver was performed with a Huey helicopter suspending the unmanned aircraft with a 200-foot cable with the engine running. Harrison Ford is a certified pilot and did his own flying in the film, after fulfilling the insurance company's training requirements.
Reception
Critical response
The film received mixed reviews. The film has a rating of 36% at review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 39 reviews. The site's consensus states: "A generally enjoyable, if completely forgettable piece of Hollywood fluff." It holds a score of 51 on Metacritic, based on reviews from 23 critics.
Box office
The film's revenue exceeded its $70 million production budget in the United States, earning $74,329,966, and with strong international sales totaling an additional $90,509,328; Six Days, Seven Nights ended its theatrical run with a worldwide total of $164,839,294.
