 In 1983, Senator Vernon Trent is running a high-profile re-election campaign. Los Angeles cop Mason Storm videotapes a meeting where Trent hires killers to kill his opponent so he won t lose the election. When Mason s cover is blown, he gets away temporarily, but when he calls in this information to his partner Kevin O Malley, he is overheard by corrupt cops who work for Trent. On his way home, Mason stops at a liquor store to pick up some champagne to celebrate his undercover coup with his wife Felicia and his 5-year-old son Sonny. 5 thugs come into the store with guns and blow away the cashier, and Mason kills the thugs. At home, Mason tucks Sonny in, and Mason and Felicia open the champagne. The corrupt cops who overheard Storm s call to Kevin go to Storm s house and start firing their guns. Felicia is killed, and Sonny is missing and presumed dead. Mason himself, declared dead at the hospital, revives only to remain in a coma. Kevin enlists the help of a doctor to keep Mason s survival a secret until he can recuperate and give information on his assailants. 7 years later, in 1990, Kevin has been forced off the LAPD, with Trent and his men now running the show. Mason is in a coma center under the alias of "John Doe," and he s being cared for by nurse Andrea "Andy" Stewart. Mason wakes up from his 7 year coma, and takes some time to recover. After recovering, Mason is reunited with Sonny, who is now 12-years-old, and Mason plans his revenge on Trent.