 Burt Reynolds plays Richard Malone, an ex-CIA agent, who wants to forget his past and maybe start things all over again. Travelling through the United States, Malone has to stop for a few days in a small but beautiful town, after his car breaks down. He soon becomes a friend of a family, and discovers that an eccentric millionaire of the region, Charles Delaney ( Cliff Robertson), keeps all the habitants of the town under his power, by fear and coaction. What Delaney really wants is to become the next president and, soon, dominate the world. But Malone decides not to make things so easy for Delaney: using his CIA profit, he will challenge him and all his hired assassins...