Nick Parker, Rutger Hauer, is a Vietnam veteran who is blinded by a mortar explosion. Rescued by local villagers, he recovers and, though blind, trains his other senses to become an expert swordsman.
Two decades later, back in the United States, he tracks down his old army buddy Frank Deveraux, only to discover that Frank is missing. He meets Frank's son Billy and his mother Lynn Devereaux [Meg Foster], Frank's ex-wife. Minutes later, corrupt police officers working for Frank's boss Claude MacCready [Noble Willingham] arrive and kidnap Billy, hoping to use him as leverage over Frank. Nick intervenes, the officers are killed, Billy is knocked unconscious, and MacCready's henchman Slag [Randall Tex Cobb] mortally wounds Lynn before he escapes. With her last words, Lynn tells Nick to take Billy to his father in Reno, Nevada.
At a rest stop on the way to Reno, Parker explains to Billy the truth about his mother's death. Billy runs away from him, and Slag ends up grabbing him. Slag escapes as Nick rescues Billy a second time, and the two form a bond, with Billy growing fond of his protector and calling him Uncle Nick.
They reach Reno and find Frank's girlfriend Annie Winchester [Lisa Blount], who agrees to take them to Frank. After escaping another kidnapping attempt by MacCready's men, Annie suggests they hide out at the home of her friend Colleen [Sharon Shackelford]. Annie takes Nick to MacCready's casino, where Frank is being forced to manufacture designer drugs for MacCready. Annie returns to Colleen's to watch over Billy while Nick saves Frank; Nick and Frank are reunited. Frank takes the key ingredient in MacCready's drugs and destroys the lab. Avoiding casino security, Nick and Frank escape and head to Colleen's to reunite Billy with his dad. They find Colleen dead, Billy and Annie kidnapped, and a note instructing them to bring the drugs to MacCready's mountain penthouse in exchange for Billy and Annie.
Knowing it is an ambush, Nick and Frank arm themselves with homemade napalm bombs. After killing all of MacCready's men, they find MacCready holding Billy and Annie at gunpoint. MacCready hired a Japanese assassin to kill Nick, but after a sword fight between the two, Nick wins by electrocuting the assassin in a hot tub. Slag shoots Nick in the shoulder and Nick throws his sword at Slag, impaling him. MacCready tries to interfere only to be stopped by Frank. Billy escapes his rope and throws Nick's sword to him, but it lands in the hot tub. As Slag reaches for his gun, Nick grabs hold of the assassin's sword and slashes him, cutting him in half and sending him out of a window.
Frank is reunited with Billy and Annie, and they leave for San Francisco. Nick drops his ticket, choosing not to go. Billy follows Nick, telling him that he needs him. Nick says that while he is fond of Billy, he should go back to his father. Nick crosses the street and vanishes as a bus passes him. Saddened by Nick's departure, Billy throws a toy dinosaur off the bridge where Nick catches it. Billy calls out to Nick one last time and tells him that he will miss him. As Frank catches up to Billy, they embrace. Nick smiles and sheds a tear, puts on his sunglasses while holding Billy's toy dinosaur with his left arm in a sling, and walks off into the distance.
