Build a movie plot around this: What spins the truck around on the highway? violent waterspouts
In June 1969, a young family takes shelter from an impending tornado. The father, in an attempt to save his family, tries to hold the storm cellar door down, but gets sucked into the tornado and killed. Watching in horror are the man's wife and his daughter Jo, who, despite the horror of the storm and losing her father, is entranced by the funnel.The film cuts to the present day and meteorologists at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) are discussing a building storm system over Oklahoma which could produce a record outbreak of tornadoes.Meanwhile, retired storm chaser Bill Harding (Bill Paxton) and his fiancee Dr. Melissa Reeves (Jami Gertz) are heading out to meet Bills former storm-chasing team to get the final divorce papers from Bills soon to be ex-wife, Dr. Jo Harding (Helen Hunt) who, since the day her father died, has sworn to hunt down as many tornadoes as possible, not wanting the same fate to happen to someone else. Besides Jo, the team consists of the eccentric Dusty Davis (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Robert Rabbit Nurick (Alan Ruck) navigator, Laurence (Jeremy Davies) photographer, Joey (Joey Slotnick), Alan Sanders (Sean Whalen) Rabbits driver, Tim "Beltzer" Lewis (Todd Field), Haynes (Wendle Jospeher) who rides with Beltzer, and Jason "Preacher" Rowe (Scott Thomson).Jo, who is still in love with Bill, tries to stall because she does not want the marriage to end. Jo then tells Bill she wanted him out on the field because his idea for a tornado-analyzing device called 'Dorothy' has been built. They will put it in the path of a tornado to measure it from inside. Four of the so-called "Dorothy" weather machines have been built. Haynes tells them of storm activity, and they head out. Bills rival team shows up, led by Dr. Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes) with his assistant Eddie (Zach Grenier).According to Bill, Jonas is in the storm-chasing business "for the money, not the science." Bill sees Jonas giving an interview to some local reporters and finds out that Jonas has stolen his idea for the...