Soleil is a police state at war with Frodan. Hector, public enemy number one, is ambushed when he robs a military supply depot. The police are ordered to take Hector alive. They shoot him repeatedly in his arms and legs before he pulls out a grenade. A female officer snatches the bomb and hurls it a safe distance away. Meanwhile, Bone, a guard at the “Gardens of Hibernation,” where Soleil’s elite undergo cryonic treatment that makes them younger, is fired over his disrespect of authority. He is sent to the slums known as the “dead zone.” As a “subgrade,” it is illegal for him to have a girlfriend or wife. He wanders into the “House of Pleasure” and sees a Helen, a short-haired prostitute, dancing in a cage. As he watches, his old gang members, Creon and J. D. arrive. Creon tells Bone he knew he could not keep a job, and predicts he will be stuck in the “zone” until he is old and withered like old Alexi. Alexi, a man with a Slavic accent, warns Creon that one day he will go too far. They are interrupted by a broadcast of Hector’s trial. Hector is found guilty of aiding Frodan and is executed by laser beam. Later, after Helen beats Creon at a game of pool, she refuses his sexual advances and flirts with Bone. That night, Bone goes to Helen’s room, but instead of wanting sex, he asks to talk. After exchanging life stories, Bone asks her back to his place and although it is illegal, she goes. On the way, they are stopped by a policewoman. Bone calls Helen a whore, and the police let her go. The policewoman warns Bone that it is illegal for him to fall in love and that she will be watching him. Upon reaching his room, Bone finds Helen waiting. The lights go out and Bone pushes her into a hidden room, seconds before the female cop kicks in the door, demanding to know where Helen is hiding. Bone plays innocent and the cop threatens to emasculate him if she finds he is lying. When she leaves, Helen and Bone make love. The next morning, Creon arrives, sees Helen, and yells at Bone for not sharing her with his gang mates. Bone orders him out and Creon accuses Bone of thinking he is above his grade. Bone and Helen go to a market and are observed stealing money by Jason, a member of the “first tier.” He follows Helen and Bone outside and watches them make love in an alley. Later, they are at the brothel, where Creon reminisces about Bone, J. D. and he forcing a prostitute to sleep with all three for the price of one. He finishes his tale by grabbing Helen’s crotch. Bone smashes him in the face and a fight ensues, ending when Hector runs way. Bone gives chase, but is stopped by Jason who offers the lovers a huge sum of money to steal an information disc from a secret governmental storehouse housed in a hospital. At Bone’s apartment, Helen convinces him they should negotiate for Jason to sneak them out to Frodan where they can openly live together. That night, Helen and Bone don gas masks, break into the hospital, knock out several guards, find the disk and return it to Jason. They parley the disc for a promise that Jason will smuggle them into Frodan in two days. Although the robbers wore masks, police are able to identify them by an iris scan taken from security photographs and put out an all-points bulletin for their arrest. Unaware their faces are being broadcast, Bone goes to say goodbye to Alexi. The old man begs to go with them and offers to pilot a helicopter to Frodan if Jason can supply one. Creon finds Helen and puts a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her for getting between him and Bone. Bone appears and points a gun at Creon, announcing he would kill Creon if he was not leaving Soleil. Later, Bone and Helen rendezvous with Jason only to learn that his superiors demand they complete one more job before they can leave. The next day, Bone and Helen rob a bank, but a teller hits an alarm. Helen shoots one of the guards before she and Bone flee to the rooftop. With no other means of escape, they leap two stories down to the cement below, hurting Helen’s leg. Bone realizes they cannot go back to the dead zone and carries her into the sewer. They decide the only place the police will not follow them is in the “plague” zone. After miles of tunnels they emerge into a camp of people with large boils on their skins. The next day, a squad of police led by Jason appears outside the building that Helen and Bone are hiding in. Jason enters the building and Bone takes him prisoner. Jason explains he works with the police, and that crime was eradicated from Soleil years ago. However, to justify the police budget, he finds “subgrades” and tricks them into becoming violent criminals. Bone and Helen use Jason as a shield to escape. In the dead zone, a broadcast shows two people wearing gas masks standing trial whom the reporter claims belong to Helen and Bone. The two are found guilty and shot, as Creon cheers their execution. Helen and Bone drive back to the “dead zone” and find J. D. and Alexi. They drive to a military airfield. Alexi explains the airships are kept in locked hangers, while the switch to unlock is in the control tower. Meanwhile, Jason recruits Creon to capture Bone. Creon finds J. D. and bullies him into revealing Bone’s plan. The next night, J. D. drives Helen and Bone to the “Garden of Hibernation.” Helen and Bone enter the building and trip an alarm. After shooting their way into the cryonic chamber, they smash the sleeping tubes and steal the elite’s jewels. Outside, Creon spots J. D. and presses a button to summon Jason and the policewoman. He goes inside, captures Helen and forces Bone into a cryonic chamber. Grabbing Helen and the loot, Creon rushes outside and is confronted by a police squad. Creon yells for Jason to let his men know he is on their side, but Jason orders them to shoot. As Helen runs back into the building, Creon leaps into J. D.’s car and speeds away, barely escaping his pursers. Helen releases Bone from the sleeping tube and they escape. Meanwhile, Creon and J. D. find Alexi at his apartment. Creon orders the old man to fly him out of the country, but Alexi refuses. J. D. taunts Creon, who shoots him dead, then forces Alexi to drive to the airport. There, he ties up the old man and runs to the control tower. Bone and Helen appear, untie Alexi, and head for a hanger. Finding J. D.’s body in Alexi’s apartment, Jason alerts the airfield, as he and the female police officer run to their car. However, Creon has already killed the tower crew and opened the hanger. Hearing sirens in the distance, Alexi, Bone and Helen push a helicopter out onto the tarmac. As Bone releases the landing blocks, Creon arrives and shoots him in the leg. Overcome with remorse, Creon falls to his knees and asks Bone to forgive him, but before getting in the helicopter and taking off, Bone tells him he does not deserve a second chance. Moments later, Jason arrives and guns down Creon. The trio land at a Frodanian air force base full of rusty planes and skeletons. When Alexi enters a hanger, he is shot to death by the policewoman. In return, Jason kills the policewoman. He explains that Soleil dropped a nuclear bomb on Frodan twenty years earlier. Although Soleil won the war, radiation blew into Soleil causing the “plague.” Fearing the Soleilians would overthrow the government if they knew the truth; the elite created a police state and pretended the nations were still at war. Jason tells the two lovers they are free to go as he plans to use the threat of their return to justify stricter laws. He flies away, leaving them to stare out at a sterile sea.