Gail is a professional at water rafting. She twigs every day, and she is in a very good shape. She takes her family, one day, to a rafting trip down the river, but she has no idea that the planed trip is about to become a nightmare. Two escaping robbers with a handgun, meet the family in the way, and join them to the trip. Only later the Gail realize that their new friends are dangerous criminals, but it's too late. The two men force them to stay together, and to keep cruising down the river. The family's life are risked not only by the two men, but also by the river which becomes more stormy and wilder.

An exhausted Meryl Streep balked when director Curtis Hanson asked her to shoot one more scene before filming finished for the end of the day, however, she decided to attempt it. Swept off the raft, she was in real danger of drowning before she was rescued. Returning upriver, she told a pale and shaking Hanson that "in the future, when I say I can't do something, I think we should believe me." Hanson hastily agreed.

Roarke:
I thought you were a nice guy.


Wade:
I am a nice guy. Just a different kind of nice guy.

Continuity: After Terry falls out of the boat on Little Niagra, there is a quick wide shot of the boat showing all four people still in the boat.

Written by David Gibbs, Paul Brouwer, Steve Hurley and Paul Hurley
Performed by Gigolo Aunts
Courtesy of the RCA Records Label of BMG Music