Mission: Impossible

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is an agent of an Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team led by Jim Phelps (Jon Voight). The team assembles for a mission in Prague to prevent a US diplomat from selling the (NOC) list - a list of all covert agents in Eastern Europe. The mission goes wrong with Hunt the sole survivor. Fleeing the scene, Hunt meets with Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), the CIA-based director of the IMF, at a cafe. Hunt learns from Kittridge that a mole, code-named Job, has infiltrated the IMF, and the operation was meant to ferret Job out by allowing him to acquire the NOC list and attempt to sell it to Max, an illegal arms dealer known for corrupting IMF agents. The NOC list in Prague was fake, the real list being held in CIA headquarters in Virginia. With Hunt the sole survivor, the CIA believes he is the mole. Hunt realizes this & runs.

Hunt returns to IMF safe-house in Prague to find Claire Phelps (Emmanuelle Beart), Jim Phelps's wife, also survived. Ethan begins correspondence with "Max" (Vanessa Redgrave), explaining that the NOC list was a fake and offering to deliver the real NOC list in exchange for the identity of the mole. Max agrees to the deal and offers Ethan a cash advance, which Ethan uses to assemble a team of blacklisted or disavowed intelligence agents, including computer expert Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and pilot Franz Krieger (Jean Reno). The new team infiltrates the CIA in Langley and successfully steals a copy of the full NOC. Kittridge has arrested Hunt's mother & traces Hunt through the phone. Hunt finds that Jim is alive.

Phelps, says that Kittridge is the mole. Hunt piecing together the clues he discovered leading up to his operation and realizes that Phelps is the mole, Job. The next day, Max and Ethan arrange to meet aboard the TGV on route to Paris, with Claire and Luther aboard to provide backup. Kittridge is also aboard, having recently arrived in London and received tickets for the TGV and a video watch from Hunt. In the train, Ethan delivers the supposed NOC list to Max, who directs him to the luggage compartment to find his money, and Job.

Max then attempts to transmit the NOC list to a server, an operation hindered by Luther, who activates a jamming device to prevent the upload. Claire, observing Kittridge's presence aboard the train, vacates her seat and meets with Phelps in the luggage car, confirming her part in the conspiracy. A silent "Phelps" slowly peels away his mask, revealing himself as Ethan. Suddenly, the real Phelps appears, armed and demanding the NOC list money. Ethan surrenders it before pulling out a pair of glasses. He slides them over his eyes, activating the camera inside and transmitting Phelps's image to Kittridge, proving beyond doubt that Phelps is still alive.

Phelps, now revealed as the traitor, shoots Claire & subdues Ethan before escaping to the roof of the train, where Krieger, also a traitor, waits to extract him with a helicopter. Ethan recovers and follows Phelps, impeding his efforts to escape and tethering Krieger's helicopter to the train as it heads into the Channel Tunnel. The fight continues, with the helicopter now following the train inside the tunnel.

The two fights atop the wind-swept train before Phelps disconnects the helicopter from the train and attempts to escape. Ethan follows, leaping onto the helicopter's landing skids and attaching explosive gum to the windshield. The ensuing explosion kills Phelps and Krieger, with Ethan narrowly escaping. Kittridge, now in possession of the NOC list and Max's true identity, reinstates Luther as an IMF agent and drops his investigation against Ethan, who resigns from the IMF. As Ethan flies' home, a flight attendant approaches him and through a coded phrase asks if he's ready for another mission.