During a rainy football game between teams from Los Angeles and Cleveland, star wide receiver Billy Cole receives a threatening phone call during half time from someone named Milo, involved in game fixing, warning him to win the game at all costs, or he's "history". Cole ingests PCP and, in a drug-induced rage, brings a firearm onto the field. Cole initially continues to play normally but, finding his path blocked with seconds remaining, he shoots three opposing players to make it to the end zone. As the police move in, Cole kneels in the end zone and announces "Ain't life a bitch?" before shooting himself in the head.
Joe Hallenbeck, a private detective and retired U.S. Secret Service agent, discovers that his wife is having an affair with his best friend and sometime business partner, Mike Matthews.
The same morning, Mike is killed in a mysterious car explosion outside Joe's house, after giving Joe an assignment to act as bodyguard for a stripper named Cory. Beginning his assignment that night at the bar where Cory works, Joe immediately crosses paths with her over-protective boyfriend, former football star James Alexander "Jimmy" Dix, who had been banned from professional football on gambling and drug possession charges. After an annoyed Jimmy takes Cory away for some private time, Joe decides to wait outside, where he is attacked by thugs and taken away to be executed. As Joe turns the tables on his would-be assassin, Jimmy and Cory leave the bar in separate cars. Cory immediately gets into a minor car accident and, stopping to confront the other driver, is shot dead by the hitmen hiding in the car.
Jimmy blindly rushes to her aid, requiring Joe to come to his rescue.