During the final minutes of a National Football League (NFL) game between the Los Angeles Stallions and the Cleveland Cats, running back Billy Cole races to the end zone to make the winning touchdown. Suddenly, he pulls a gun, shoots three of his opponents, and kills himself. Team owner Sheldon Marcone watches from the sidelines, horrified. A day or two later, in Los Angeles, California, private detective Joseph C. Hallenbeck receives an assignment to provide personal security for an exotic dancer. “Joe” is not interested in the seemingly insignificant case, but needs the money. Elsewhere in Los Angeles, professional football player James “Jimmy” Alexander Dix attends a party for the Stallions. Other players taunt the suspended quarterback, but Jimmy retorts that he is still the best arm in the league. Meanwhile, Joe confronts his wife, Sarah Hallenbeck, about her affair with his best friend, Mike Matthews, whom he finds hiding in the closet. When Sarah confirms the infidelity, Joe escorts Mike out of the house. Mike gets in his car, and the vehicle explodes the moment he puts the key in the ignition. Joe is stunned. Later, he goes to a strip club to meet Cory, the dancer seeking security. Before her performance, Cory stops to kiss her boyfriend Jimmy Dix, who has been watching her meeting with Joe with suspicion. Jimmy antagonizes Joe, but Joe dismisses the athlete, alluding to Jimmy’s weakness for gambling and drugs. Later, while waiting outside the club for Cory, Joe is attacked by four men. He escapes, but it is too late. The hit men intercept Cory, killing her. After the incident, Joe explains to Jimmy that he received the assignment to protect Cory from his friend, Mike, who was also a private detective. Sure that the murders are related, Jimmy urges Joe to investigate. The two go to Cory’s apartment, where they find documentation linking Sheldon Marcone to Calvin Baynard, a corrupt U.S. Senator. Jimmy deduces that Cory hoped to blackmail the Stallions owner into dismissing his suspension and hiring him to play again. Leaving Cory’s place, Joe and Jimmy are accosted by two criminals who demand the incriminating evidence. However, the private detective outwits the men, creating an explosion that destroys the information. Jimmy offers to help reconstruct the case against Sheldon. He accompanies Joe home, where he learns that the detective, a former Secret Service agent, once protected the President of the U.S. from an assassination attempt. Trading stories, Jimmy reveals that, a few years ago, his pregnant wife was killed in a car accident. Gambling and drugs helped him cope with the loss, but led to his suspension. Jimmy criticizes the NFL for failing to provide mental health care services. Joe is unsympathetic and asks Jimmy to leave. The next day, men in black suits attack Jimmy, tossing him in front of oncoming traffic. Jimmy survives, however, and later attempts to convince police of a conspiracy between Senator Baynard and the NFL. No one believes him. While at the police station, Jimmy learns that Joe has disappeared. Police suspect that the detective was responsible for Mike’s death, even though Sarah Hallenbeck insists that could not be true. Jimmy tells Joe’s teenage daughter, Darian, not to worry; he has a hunch as to Joe’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, Sheldon Marcone holds Joe captive, boasting of his scheme to restore people’s interest in football by legalizing gambling. When Joe deduces that Senator Baynard is crucial to the plan, Sheldon admits that he bribed the politician to overturn current anti-gambling laws. However, Baynard refused the offer, demanding more money. Although the Senator now expects to receive a briefcase containing the $6 million he asked for, Sheldon intends to kill him, instead. Sheldon’s accomplices fill another briefcase with explosives, and swap it for the case containing money after the Senator’s security man verifies the amount. Joe participates in the exchange against his will. After the handoff, Jimmy attempts to rescue Joe, to no avail. Sheldon’s minions threaten to kill the quarterback as well as the detective, until Darian, having stowed away with Jimmy, walks into the middle of the debacle. She slips a gun to her father, and the trio make a getaway under a shower of gunfire. En route to the Coliseum, Joe and Jimmy drop Darian off at a posh Hollywood home, and ask the homeowner to call police. They then intercept Baynard’s limousine on the freeway. When the car overturns, Joe snags the undetonated briefcase bomb from the trunk. Just then, one of Sheldon’s henchmen calls to inform them that he has captured Joe’s daughter. Laughing maniacally, he reveals he is headed to the football game. Jimmy and Joe rush to the Coliseum. They confront Sheldon in his office, dismayed to see Darian in his clutches. The Stallions owner is unimpressed with their attempt to foil his scheme, and announces that he has hired a sniper to kill Baynard. Sheldon then orders his associates to kill Joe and Jimmy, but Jimmy tosses an explosive bullet into the fireplace, creating a firestorm that allows them to escape. Jimmy rushes onto the playing field and throws a football at Senator Baynard, knocking him out of the sniper’s line of fire. Meanwhile, Joe locates the gunman atop the stadium lights. A fight ensues, and the sniper falls to his death. Later, Sarah Hallenbeck finds Joe and Jimmy nursing their wounds in the parking lot. When she suggests that she and Joe reconcile their marriage, he embraces her. Police ask about the briefcase bomb, and Joe indicates that it is in the backseat of the car he drove to the Coliseum. However, unknown to all involved, Sheldon stole the briefcase, thinking it contained $6 million. Just then, a tremendous explosion rattles the residential neighborhood below Griffith Observatory. Joe and Jimmy laugh at the mogul’s demise. Sometime later, Joe invites Jimmy to become his partner, and they stroll near the beach discussing the finer points of detective work.