Plot

A volcanologist arrives at a countryside town recently named the second-most desirable place to live in America, and discovers that a nearby long-dormant volcano may awaken at any moment.

Volcanologist Harry Dalton and mayor Rachel Wando of Dante's Peak try to convince the city council and the other volcanologists that the volcano right above Dante's peak is indeed dangerous. People's safety is being set against economical interests.—Rune Dahl Fitjar <[email protected]>

Without warning, day becomes night, air turns to fire, and solid ground melts beneath white-hot lava. Welcome to the town of Dante's Peak, where a long-dormant volcano is about to erupt with devastating force. Who will survive when the inferno unleashes its fury?—Robert Lynch <[email protected]>

USGS scientist Harry Dalton is sent to the small town of Dante's Peak to check on unusual activity. Spurred by the volcano-related death of a previous lover, Dalton urges Mayor Rachel Wando to put the city on alert. Dalton's boss, Paul Dreyfus, arrives and countermands Dalton demanding scientific proof. When the proof finally arrives, Harry and Rachel must go to the volcano to rescue her two children and ex-mother-in-law. Tension builds as they try to reach safety while the town below is destroyed.—Mark Perew <[email protected]>

Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) is one of the most experienced geologists in the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and a 4-year bachelor after he lost his girlfriend, Marianne (Walker Brandt), to a volcanic eruption in Colombia. He receives a call from his boss, Paul Dreyfus (Charles Hallahan), to check on unusual activity of a dormant volcano in the Cascades called Dante's Peak. While the town of the same name is celebrating their accomplishment to be number 2 on the most wanted place to live in the country, he meets Rachael Wando (Linda Hamilton), the town mayor and owner of a food and drinks store. While Harry is checking on Dante's Peak he notices trees, animals and even people had died recently near the volcano, and he wants to put the city council on alert, but people are putting economical interests first and security second. Even Dreyfus would not listen to Harry, invoking lack of real scientific evidence while actually being afraid of causing huge financial losses for the investors, and countermands Harry's alert. For a week, the volcano was not overly active, but then the activity began to increase. Just as the city council was put on alert, Dante's Peak erupts. Harry and Rachael must traverse through ash that falls like rain, lava, acid lakes and a pyroclastic cloud to escape from the volcano, and save Rachael's mother and her two children. Who will survive when day becomes night, air turns to fire, and solid ground melts beneath white-hot lava?—Artemis-9

In 1993, USGS Volcanologist Dr. Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) and his partner, Marianne (Walker Brandt), attempt to escape Galeras's eruption in Colombia. In the escape a piece of debris kills Marianne. Four years later, Harry is assigned by his superior, Dr. Paul Dreyfus (Charles Hallahan), to investigate seismic activity near Dante's Peak, Washington, a town that borders a dormant Stratovolcano (chances of an eruption are 10000 to 1). Harry arrives at the town and meets with the mayor, Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton), and her children, Graham (Jeremy Foley) and Lauren (Jamie Renée Smith). The town around the volcano was just voted 2nd best to live in USA, population below 20K, and is about to receive a major investment from Blair industries.

Rachel offers to take Harry with them as they see her former mother-in-law, Ruth (Elizabeth Hoffman), who lives near a lake at the base of the volcano. While exploring, they find dead trees, dead squirrels, and even two people boiled to death by a hot spring. Paul arrives with a USGS team that evening, and they set up base to monitor the volcano. Harry believes the disturbances to be signs of an impending eruption, but Paul disagrees and advises against giving a false alarm. Still, Harry tries to convince Rachel to prepare for a disaster, while developing a relationship with her and the children. The town council is more worried about the message this sends to Blair's $18MM investment and 800 jobs. Harry disagrees with Paul's recommendation, but Paul is adamant that these matters involve politics and economics.

A week passes, but although one of Harry's colleagues, Terry (Kirk Trutner), is injured in an earthquake and avalanche in the summit crater, the volcano shows no signs of serious activity, and the USGS team begins preparing to leave. Other team members are Nancy (Arabella Field), Stan (Tzi Ma) etc. Harry is livid since he feels those quakes were not tectonic, they were Magmatic, and he is not OK with Paul not recommending the town to be put on alert. But the entire team says that there is no activity of any kind. However, when Harry goes to say goodbye to Rachel, they discover the town's water supply has been contaminated with sulfur dioxide, and the next morning, seismic readings and gas levels rise dramatically. Finally convinced that the volcano will erupt, and with the National Guard unavailable until the next day, Paul gives Harry permission to put the town on alert.

Before the group can evacuate the town, the eruption begins. In the ensuing chaos, Harry and Rachel go to retrieve the children, only to find they have gone to get Ruth, who refuses to leave her home. Just as they reach Ruth and the children, a lava flow engulfs Ruth's cabin and destroys the vehicles both parties used to get there. They can't go back via the road, as it has been destroyed in the quakes and the resulting landslides. The five flee across the lake in a motorboat, but the lake has become acidic due to sulfur-rich gases from the volcano, destroying the motor and eating away at the boat. Ruth jumps out of the boat to help it to shore but sustains severe chemical burns and dies the next morning with her family and Harry at her side. Meanwhile the chopper pilot that Paul had hired for their stay, tries to profit by flying people out of the town. But the chopper crashes after taking in ash through the engines.

The heat from the volcano melts the glaciers on the peak, forming a Lahar which collapses a dam on the river leading into town. During a lull in the eruption, Harry and the Wandos take a ranger's truck and set off back to town, where the National Guard is helping evacuate the town. A bridge over the Lahar fails, and while the USGS team makes it across, their van and Paul are lost to the flood. Meanwhile, Harry and the Wandos are forced to drive across a lava flow in their path, rescuing Ruth's dog, Roughy, along the way. When they arrive back in the deserted town, they find all escape routes gone. While retrieving a distress radio beacon, Harry learns the volcano is due for a more violent second eruption. As he races for the town's abandoned mine, the volcano explodes, and they barely make it to the mine before the town is overrun and destroyed by Pyroclastic cloud flows. The USGS team, watching the eruption from afar, presume Harry dead.

Harry leads the Wandos to Graham's former clubhouse in the mine, only to realize he left the beacon in the truck. When he goes back for it, the mine collapses, nearly crushing the truck and trapping him inside (with a badly broken bone (protruding bones and all)). Harry eventually manages to activate the beacon after much difficulty.

A few days later, Terry notices the beacon has been activated, and the USGS dispatches search and rescue teams. Harry and the Wandos are freed from the mine, reunited with Harry's team, and airlifted out by helicopter. As the credits roll, the camera pans over the obliterated town before turning to the volcano, now reduced to a caldera.