One Battle After Another

“Ghetto” Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills are members of the far-left revolutionary group the French 75. Breaking out detained immigrants from a detention center in California, Perfidia humiliates the commanding officer, Steven Lockjaw, who develops a sexual fascination with her. Pat and Perfidia become lovers as the French 75 carry out attacks on politicians’ offices, banks, and the power grid. Lockjaw catches Perfidia planting a bomb, but lets her go after she agrees to have sex at a motel.

Perfidia gives birth to a baby girl, Charlene, but Pat is unable to persuade her to live as a family. She abandons them to continue her revolutionary activities. After Perfidia is captured at a botched bank robbery, Lockjaw arranges for her to avoid prison in exchange for information about the French 75. She enters witness protection as Lockjaw hunts down her comrades and shoots many of them on sight, forcing the others to go on the run. As Pat and Charlene are forced to live in hiding as Bob and Willa Ferguson, Perfidia escapes Lockjaw’s custody and flees to Mexico.

Sixteen years later, living in the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross, Bob has become a paranoid drug addict. He is overprotective of Willa, who has grown into a self-reliant and spirited teenager. Through his vehement anti-immigrant efforts, Lockjaw has become a colonel, and is invited to join the Christmas Adventurers Club, a secret society of white supremacists. He hunts for Willa to cover up his interracial relationship, which is forbidden by the club. He hires an Indigenous bounty hunter, Avanti Q, who captures Bob’s comrade Howard Sommerville, triggering a distress signal to the remaining French 75.

Under the guise of an immigration and drug enforcement operation, Lockjaw dispatches his troops to Baktan Cross to find Bob and Willa. Deandra, a trusted member of the French 75, rescues Willa before her school dance is raided. Lockjaw’s men attack Bob’s home while he is high. He escapes through a tunnel and calls the French 75 for help, but is unable to remember the password. He seeks out Willa’s karate teacher and community leader Sergio St. Carlos, who evacuates a stream of immigrants through a hidden tunnel. Fleeing with Sergio’s students across the rooftops, Bob falls and is arrested. Deandra brings Willa to a convent of revolutionary nuns, where she learns the truth about her mother’s betrayal.

The Christmas Adventurers uncover evidence of Lockjaw’s relationship with Perfidia, and send a member, Tim Smith, to eliminate him and Willa. Raiding the convent, Lockjaw forcibly tests Willa’s DNA, confirming he is her biological father and thus making his membership in the Christmas Adventurers Club impossible. Lockjaw decides to kill Willa instead of freeing her. Sergio arranges for Bob to escape custody and drives him to the convent, throwing him from the car before being pulled over by police. Hot-wiring another car, Bob reaches the convent but fails to kill Lockjaw with Sergio’s rifle. The colonel hires Avanti to take Willa to a group of mercenaries, who will kill her. Smith tracks Lockjaw down and shoots him in the face with the rifle, causing him to crash his car, and leaves him for dead.

Avanti delivers Willa to the mercenaries, but frees her and dies gunning the others down. Willa takes Avanti’s car and pistol and is chased by Smith until she lures him into a crash by exploiting a blind summit. She shoots him dead when he does not know the revolutionary countersign, and tearfully reunites with Bob. A badly-scarred Lockjaw is seemingly welcomed into the Christmas Adventurers, but is instead gassed to death and cremated. Returning home with his daughter, Bob gives Willa a letter of hope from her mother, and his blessing as she sets off to join a protest hours away in Oakland; he is no longer anxious about his daughter’s future as they both play with iPhones.

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 07:50