| Director | Lili Fini Zanuck |
|---|---|
| Genre | crime film, drama film, film based on a novel, neo-noir |
| Runtime | 120 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $17 million |
| Box office | $7.2 million |
In the coastal petroleum refinery town of Katterly outside of Houston, Texas, Seasoned undercover narcotics officer Jim Raynor is told by his superior, Captain Dodd, to choose a partner from a group of recent police academy graduates for a planned undercover investigation. Raynor chooses the only female applicant, Kristen Cates. Though uneasy, Dodd approves Raynor's choice.
Raynor explains to Cates that they will be deep undercover, dependent on each other to not get killed during the investigation. Though initially startled by Raynor's intensity, Cates insists she is capable of doing whatever it takes to get the job done. Later at Raynor's apartment, he teaches Cates how to inject drugs, claiming that he is using a harmless powder for demonstration purposes. Raynor informs Cates that she will be put in situations where she will have to take the drugs in order to convince dealers she is not a cop. He insists that if she tries to fake drug use in front of dealers, she will get both of them killed.
The main target of the operation is local businessman Will Gaines. The chief of police insists that Gaines is the main drug boss in the town, but Gaines is deeply mistrustful of Raynor and Cates.
As Raynor predicted, Cates is put into a position where she is forced to inject drugs in front of a dealer. Over the course of the investigation, buying drugs all over town, Cates and Raynor begin using drugs for more reasons than maintaining their cover.
Though they have successfully infiltrated the town's drug underworld, Raynor and Cates are unable to make a buy from Gaines. Under pressure from the chief and sergeant, they falsify evidence against Gaines in order to secure his arrest.
The night before Gaines trial is to begin, Cates is startled awake by a double barrel shotgun caressing her face. A gunfight ensues, in which Raynor is shot in the thigh, striking his femoral artery. Cates returns fire and runs to a neighbor's house shouting for help, then returns to the trailer to find Raynor barely conscious. He dies in her arms.
At the grand jury, Cates is on the witness stand. During her testimony, she mentions that she has resigned from the police force. Her testimony sticks to the fabricated story Raynor and she concocted. Gaines is later indicted. However, at trial, Cates takes the stand to testify. When she looks directly at Gaines, he slides two fingers down the bridge of his nose, mimicking the movement of the shotgun that eventually killed Raynor. Stunned, Cates retracts her statements about Gaines's involvement in the drug trade, and testifies that they were ordered to fabricate evidence by the chief of police. This secures Gaines's acquittal.
Freed from police custody, Gaines gets into his car a few nights later. As he drives down the road, he notices someone hiding in the backseat. Gaines pulls over, and as he turns to confront them, he is killed by a double barrel shotgun blast to the face. The killer is never shown.