Impulse

She works as a decoy prostitute for the LAPD Vice squad, putting her in dangerous situations and under pressure from her superior, Lieutenant Joe Morgan. The job stirs her thrill-seeking fantasies of losing control, adding tension to her professional life. The hostile dynamic at work foreshadows the ethical minefield she will navigate.

Detective Stan Harris begins to romance Lottie, complicating her double life. The burgeoning relationship leads to a date and eventually intimacy, raising the stakes of their professional and personal entanglement. This romance adds emotional pressure as events spiral toward danger.

During a sting operation, Lottie shoots and kills a drug dealer and two of his thugs. She drives home shaken, then suffers a tire blowout on the way back. A serviceman at a gas station replaces the tire while she processes the violence she's just unleashed.

At a bar across from the gas station, mobster Tony Perón approaches Lottie and hints at help, as he is a key witness in Luna's case. She coyly pretends to be Carla and agrees to accompany him back to a Beverly Hills mansion. The decision marks the beginning of a perilous chain of events.

Lottie excuses herself after a bathroom break and senses the danger. Gunshots ring out, a killer roams the mansion, and Lottie hides as Tony's killers move through the house. Returning downstairs, she discovers Tony's body, hides her identity, and calls 911 while disguising her voice, then pockets an airport locker key Tony had.

Lottie heads to the airport to use the locker and is stunned to find a suitcase packed with $1 million in cash. She leaves the suitcase in the locker and returns home while Tony's murder becomes national news. A forensic sketch based on witnesses at the bar consolidates the case against an unknown suspect.

Lottie returns to the airport and secretly takes the suitcase, hiding it in her apartment instead of turning it in. The money, and the implications of the Tony murder, begin to pull her further into danger and secrecy. This act of theft raises questions about motive and loyalty.

Lottie spends the night with Stan, but she cannot bring herself to confess the truth the next morning. Stan studies the sketch and 911 audio and grows suspicious that Lottie might be Carla. He confronts her later that day in a heated exchange, fueling mistrust between them.

Stan goes to the district attorney with a plan to trap Tony's killer, and a false ‘new development’ appears on the news, featuring a sunglasses-clad Lottie who proclaims she can identify the killer. The ploy intertwines media, law enforcement, and Lottie's fate, pushing her toward a critical decision.

Lottie stakes out an abandoned house while a stranger arrives and then departs as police close in. The man claims innocence and says he was paid to deliver flowers to Lottie, highlighting the web of influence surrounding the case. The environment underscores the sense that anyone may be involved in Tony's murder.

The killer Vic Dimarjian enters the scene and Lottie shoots him dead in a tense confrontation. Before dying, Vic admits he killed Tony to avoid testifying against Luna, revealing the motive behind the murder. The revelation tightens the net around Lottie and those she has encountered.

Lottie resigns from the LAPD and heads for a vacation, while Morgan closes in, convinced she has Tony's missing money. He confronts her at the airport and forces her into a bathroom, where he discovers the suitcase again—but this time it’s described as baseball cards, complicating the evidence and its provenance. Stan intervenes to stop Morgan, redirecting the investigation.

Stan incapacitates Morgan and hands Lottie the keys to his car, revealing that Tony's money is stored in the trunk. Lottie contemplates taking the cash but ultimately decides against it, choosing a different path forward. The moment cements a shift toward doing the right thing rather than giving in to greed.

Lottie returns to the airport bar with Stan and insists they turn the money in to authorities before sharing a drink. The film closes on a note of cautious reconciliation and a decision to face the consequences of the night’s violence together. The final beat recalibrates Lottie’s loyalties away from crime toward accountability.