In Los Angeles, California, bounty hunter Nick Randall, an ex-Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative, collects a $40,000 reward for bringing in a man on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Most Wanted list. His best friend, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective sergeant Danny Quintz comes to Nick’s home, a loft in a former auto body parts garage, for a celebratory drink. Nick tells Danny he has been dating Terry, an anthropology doctoral student, for the past three months, the longest relationship he has ever had. Nick, who is in his early forties, tells Danny that Terry thinks he is in the “security business,” but he wants to do a few more bounty hunter jobs to save money, then travel the world with Terry. Nick says he looks forward to retiring, while Danny suspects Nick will miss the danger. Nick visits Terry, who lives on a boat docked in the San Pedro harbor. She plays harmonica, commenting that it used to belong to a frontiersman who was in the Civil War. Nick says that his great-grandfather, Joshua Randall, was a bounty hunter in the Old West. Meanwhile, notorious Arab terrorist Malak Al Rahim and his operatives plant explosives in a movie theatre, killing 138 people. Nick’s former CIA colleague, Philmore “Phil” Walker, offers him $250,000 to capture Malak within a week, plus an additional $50,000 if he brings him in alive. Nick demands immunity from prosecution and no police surveillance teams following him while he does the job, but Phil cannot promise either. While Nick examines the movie theatre, a man photographs him and takes the picture to Malak, who is pleased that Nick is on the job because he has been waiting to kill Nick for a long time. Phil and Nick learn the high-tech detonator used in the theater explosion came from a factory that has been robbed twice in the past year. Nick questions Luis Sanchez, the man arrested for the first robbery, who claims to know nothing about a second robbery. Nick goes to see a man named Farnsworth about the detonators and is told that a college student stole them for Farnsworth. Meanwhile, Malak Al Rahim and his men make plans to set off a large number of explosives at a chemical plant. Once the chemicals are released into the atmosphere, the wind will spread them across the region, potentially killing 30,000 people. Nick follows another lead and learns that a man named Robert Aziz bought the detonators. Two men in a car shoot at Nick and chase him, but they wreck their car and one is killed. Rather than be taken to jail when police arrive, the surviving man detonates dynamite, killing himself. Nick runs into former CIA colleague John Lipton, who reminds him of a 1978 assignment to assassinate five men. Nick killed four, but the one who got away now wants him dead, and that man is Malak Al Rahim. Nick believes there is no way Malak would know that he was the assassin unless John Lipton told him. He also realizes the CIA has set him up to lure out Malak. When Nick notices he is being followed, he pulls his car into a parking garage and climbs into a manhole to lose his pursuers. Nick goes to Terry’s houseboat, the H.M.S. Bounty, and tells her that he must disappear for a while because men from an old business deal are after him. He telephones Danny Quintz asking that he disguise himself as Nick and go to the houseboat to throw the men following him off his tail. When Danny arrives at the houseboat, Malak’s men detonate explosives, killing both Danny and Terry. Nick confronts Phil Walker, suggesting the CIA set the bomb on the boat, but Phil denies any connection to the explosion and gives him Robert Aziz’s address. Meanwhile, Malak’s operatives set off car and truck bombs all over Los Angeles. Police are overwhelmed by the explosions, as Malak planned. At an oil drum factory, Malak’s men hide in empty oil drums that are transported to the Sendraz chemical plant near the airport. Nick forces Robert Aziz to disclose Malak’s plan, goes to the oil drum factory, and climbs on the underside of a truck taking the drums to Sendrax. Once there, he climbs into the driver’s cab and tries to stop a van carrying Malak’s operatives. Nick rams into the van again and again, as police arrive and arrest Malak’s men. Nick spies Malak and follows him into the plant. The two exchange machine gun fire, but Nick captures Malak. Malak claims he is not a criminal, but a soldier, and he deserves to die like a soldier. Nick shoves a grenade in Malak’s mouth and takes him to police. Nick tells CIA operative John Lipton to send his $250,000 fee to Danny Quintz’s widow. Nick will keep the $50,000 bonus for bringing Malak in alive. Then, Nick looks at Malak and tells Lipton to forget the bonus. Nick pulls the pin on the grenade in Malak’s mouth and it explodes, blowing off Malak’s head while Nick walks away.