In New York City, as immortal Highlander Connor MacLeod sits in Madison Square Garden impassively watching a wrestling match, he recalls being on a Scottish battlefield in the year 1536. He leaves before the match ends, walking to his car in an underground parking garage. There, an ancient immortal enemy, Aman Fasil, draws his sword, and they fight. Aman cuts off the electricity and activates the sprinkler system. When Connor is disarmed by Aman, he continues to fight with a lead pipe. Soon, Connor retrieves his sword and decapitates Aman. An electrical disturbance occurs, stirring up a gale, causing car and overhead lights to explode. With sirens wailing in the distance, Connor runs away, but first hides his sword in the ceiling ductwork. Connor remembers how he and his fellow Scottish soldiers rode into battle in 1536. Later, Connor is confused when enemy soldiers will not fight him. However, their leader, a black knight named Kurgan, wants to be the one to kill Connor, and warns his army not to touch him. When the men find each other, Kurgan impales Connor with his sword. Back in New York City, Connor speeds out of the parking lot in his roadster, but police stop and frisk him. His identification card says his name is Russell Edwin Nash and that he owns an antique shop on Hudson Street. Police arrest him. Back in Scotland, a priest gives last rites to Connor, and he dies. In the underground garage, forensics specialist, Brenda Wyatt, learns from Lieutenant Frank Morgan that officers have questioned Nash. Brenda finds Aman’s sword under a car, and recognizes the weapon as a Toledo Salamanca, a rare antique worth $1 million. Morgan’s theory is that Aman was going to sell the sword, but when he and Connor fought about the price, Connor murdered him. Elsewhere, the immortal known as Kurgan checks into a sleazy hotel and practices his sword fighting in anticipation of “the gathering,” a contest to determine the last immortal left alive. At night, Connor/Nash returns to the parking lot to retrieve his sword. Brenda also returns with a metal detector to find other metal fragments left by the sword fight. Connor/Nash follows Brenda to a bar, and strikes up a conversation. When he offers to walk her home, she rebuffs him. However, she waits and follows Connor/Nash down the street. He hides, then grabs her, but Kurgan appears before they can speak. As Kurgan draws his weapon, Brenda pulls a sword from her purse and arms Connor/Nash. The men fight until a police helicopter appears and orders them to stop. Instead, Kurgan escapes on foot, while Brenda wants to know why he addressed Connor/Nash as “Highlander” and why there can be "only one." Connor/Nash refuses to answer her questions, and warns her not to follow him again. Back in Scotland, Connor miraculously recovers from his mortal wounds, but his friends believe the Devil inhabits his body and shun him. His loyal friend, Angus, banishes him from the kingdom of Glenfinnan to save his life, after a crowd severely beats him. Exhausted, Connor/Nash returns to his New York loft apartment. He remembers living five years in exile with his wife, Heather, when an immortal named Juan Sanchez Villalobos Ramirez, chief metallurgist to King Charles V of Spain, appears. Ramirez says they are warrior brothers with the same destiny. At the police station, Brenda discovers Connor/Nash is a chief suspect in the antique sword murder when she sneaks through the file on Lt. Morgan’s desk. At his apartment, Connor/Nash realizes Brenda is the author of a book titled A Metallurgical History of Ancient Sword-Making. He remembers how Ramirez taught him about his immortality by dumping him overboard in the middle of a lake when he could not swim. Instead of drowning, Connor emerged from the lake and tried to kill Ramirez with his sword. The blow had no effect, and Ramirez urged Connor to accept his fate that one day, only a few will be left to partake in “the gathering” to fight for an unknown prize. Ramirez trains Connor and sharpens his sword-fighting skills. When it is time for the contest, only one highlander will remain standing, and the rules state immortals cannot attack each other on holy ground. The Kurgans, a violent people originating out of Russia, are the strongest of the immortals. If Kurgan won the prize, an eternity of darkness would fall upon the mortal world. Later, Ramirez explains immortals cannot have children, and warns Connor to leave Heather. Still later, Kurgan ambushes Ramirez as he entertains Heather at dinner. They fight and Kurgan decapitates Ramirez, stealing his ancient Japanese sword. Kurgan rapes Heather when Ramirez lies and claims she is his wife. In New York City, Brenda visits Connor/Nash’s antique shop to ask him about a sword-carrying giant with a sword dating back to 600 B. C. Connor/Nash says he does not sell exotic weapons, and suggests they have dinner together. At Brenda’s apartment, Connor/Nash notices her hidden gun, police officers parked across the street in an unmarked car, and a running tape recorder. She lies and says she works at the Metropolitan Museum. However, he presents her with a copy of her book on ancient sword making, exposing her lies, and accuses her of setting a police trap. She claims her sole interest is finding the truth about the Japanese sword, which is not supposed to exist since Japan did not possess the technology to create it until the Middle Ages. If she found the sword it would be a significant discovery. Connor/Nash is not interested in her career aspirations and leaves. He remembers living with Heather until her death from old age. In a seedy part of New York, Kurgan decapitates another immortal named Sundra Kastigir. At a hospital, Lt. Morgan gets a description of Kurgan from an eyewitness, and is surprised Connor/Nash is not involved. Meanwhile, Brenda locates Connor/Nash’s birth certificate and meets with the physician who delivered him. He tells her that Nash died shortly after birth. Later, Brenda traces the antique shop property deeds back to the 1700s. The signatures of all previous owners match the handwriting of Connor/Nash. She also learns that each owner adopted an identity from the death certificate of an infant. The evidence suggests Connor/Nash has lived for several hundred years, but she does not believe it. Connor/Nash goes to church to light a candle in memory of Heather’s birthday. Kurgan meets him and says Kastigir was eliminated, and only he and Connor remain as immortals. When Connor learns that Kurgan raped Heather but she never told him, he invites Kurgan to step outside, but Kurgan is saving their fight for some future time. Brenda returns to the antique shop and confronts Connor/Nash about his false identities. He confesses that he has lived almost five centuries and cannot die. To demonstrate, he produces a dagger and places it in her hand and forces her to plunge it into his stomach. When it has no effect, Brenda cries and they make love. Later, he claims he cannot bear to become involved in a relationship. Still later, Kurgan follows Brenda home, kidnaps her, and plays “chicken” on city streets, driving the wrong way as other cars dodge his vehicle. As Kurgan races toward the Silvercup Studios, Connor/Nash listens to a voice message, challenging him to fight at Silvercup. There, Brenda is tied to the studio’s neon sign on the roof. As Connor/Nash reaches her, Kurgan appears and a deadly sword fight follows. While the immortals battle, Kurgan weakens the sign’s scaffolding, causing its letters to crash around them, and a water cistern to tip over. The men fight with water up to their thighs. As the last letter in the sign topples, Brenda becomes free from her restraints, and watches the fighting from a distance. The men crash to the floor below, and Connor loses his sword. As Kurgan thinks he is about to kill Connor, Brenda distracts him, allowing Connor to retrieve his weapon. Connor weakens Kurgan with two cuts to his chest, then decapitates him. As an energy field spews from his neck, hundreds of windows explode, and Connor/Nash is lifted into the air by another electrical field and spun around, then settles to the ground. Brenda approaches and caresses him. Later, they travel to Connor’s Scottish homeland. He says the gift gives him the power to know what important men everywhere are thinking, but it also makes him mortal and able to have children. He hears Ramirez’s voice in his head saying that he has been given tremendous power, and should learn to use it wisely. Connor and Brenda embrace.