Theodore ‘Teddy’ Hoffman is a highly-regarded defense attorney in a prestigious Los Angeles law firm. Having successfully defended the wealthy but suspicious Richard Cross in a much-publicised murder trial, he is now involved in the defense of Neil Avedon, a famous young actor who has been suffering from severe drug and alcohol problems – and has been charged with the murder for which Cross was acquitted.

Set in San Diego, the movie follows the desperate acts of Bill Templer head of a covert defense agency perpetrating a terrifying fraud on the American public – involving the imminent invasion of aliens – by leaking to the press a satellite image of an alien armada poised to strike earth. As terror of an alien attack spreads, the President of the United States orders the launching of Peacemaker, a surveillance satellite retrofitted with a nuclear warhead. Templer’s elaborate plot is threatened when police detective Kevin Anjanette discovers that the alien images were faked. To protect his scheme, Templer swiftly unleashes the lethal head of his security, Ava Zurich, onto Anjanette. But it’s soon revealed that an alien force actually does exist and is poised to strike if Peacemaker is used. In order to protect mankind from total annihilation, Anjanette must race to abort the nuclear bomb that will trigger the alien attack.

Raymond Lembecke (Vincent Gallo) is a con just out of prison after serving time for selling drugs for his mob boss Tony Vago (Rod Steiger). (Lembecke was innocent and took the rap for Vago.) Lembecke thinks Vago owes him big time so, when his former boss gets him a measly job in a warehouse, he decides on revenge and plans to steal a million dollars worth of drugs from him.