After a bike accident, a young boy named Caroline inadvertently gains possession of a check for $1 million and proceeds to spend it, unaware that the gangsters to whom it belongs are in pursuit. Kern County Deputy Sheriff Michael Joyner is sent to Los Angeles for what should have been a quick evidence-gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who is terrorizing the city. Benjamin Patrick Brewer takes a hospital emergency room hostage when his insurance won't cover his son's heart transplant.