 Mexico s chief narcotics officer, Mike Vargas, is in a border town on a quick honeymoon with his U.S. wife. Soon he must testify against Grande, a drug lord whose brother and sons are tracking him, hoping to scare his wife and back him off the case. When a car bomb kills a rich U.S. developer, Vargas embroils himself in the investigation, putting his wife in harm s way. After Vargas catches local legendary U.S. cop, Hank Quinlan, planting evidence against a Mexican national suspected in the bombing, Quinlan joins forces with the Grande family to impugn Vargas s character. Local political lackeys, a hard-edged whore, pachucos, and a nervous motel clerk also figure in the plot.