Wong Dai, Chooye Bay, an influential Chinese drug kingpin, sits at a long table in an old building in Paris, going through the motions of a gigantic merger between himself and several other major Chinese drug dealers.
Sai Lo, Hon Ping Tang, controls shipments in the French heroin market in Paris, using laundromats all over the city as a front to move his products.
Tang "The Bird" Zhili, Bruce Wang, holds the reins of the entire New York drug empire from Chinatown, and also oversees a web of mahjong gambling rackets that finance his operations.
Yin Quinshi, Dave Wong, based in Sofia, Bulgaria, commands an Eastern European drug cartel, coordinating networks that stretch across borders.
Li Bo, Tom Wu, runs drug exports out of Shanghai, with a penchant for French dining as a backdrop to his illicit business.
Fang "The Barber" Lee, Ozzie Yue, leads a Paris cartel and is known for hiring unusual assassins who operate in the shadows of the city.
Mr. Chang, Chike Chan, handles drug money in London, moving profits through a web of financial complexity that ties together these disparate operations.
Yale University archaeology professor Robert Burns, Steven Seagal, recently honored with the Winthrop Award, stumbles onto the truth that his China–Kazakhstan border expedition is being used as cover for Wong’s smuggling scheme.
Realizing the danger of lingering, Burns and his assistant Luo Yi, Elaine Tan, attempt to flee, but a deadly gunfight leaves Luo Yi dead and the mission in jeopardy.
When Burns reaches the border, Wong’s smugglers frame him for drug running, and he lands in a Chinese prison. There, he is questioned by Chinese narcotics officer Tommie Ling, Michelle Goh, and DEA agent Ed Gray, Corey Johnson, who aim to use him as bait to nail the drug smuggling cartels.
Burns, nicknamed the “gweilo Professor” by Wong’s circle, is quickly released and sent to the United States, where he vows revenge to Luo Dazhong, Vincent Wong, Yi’s father, though Wong is far from finished with Burns.
Wong responds by sending hitmen to Burns’s home in New Haven, Connecticut, planting a bomb that destroys Burns’s world and claims the life of his wife Maya, portrayed by Kata Dobó.
With his wife dead and Tommie Ling and Ed Grey hot on his heels, Burns cuts a bloody path through Chinatown and across Europe, driven by a single purpose: exterminating Wong.
As the pressure mounts, the past surfaces: Burns was once a thief of Chinese artifacts who served time in prison, earned his archaeology degree behind bars, changed his name, and eventually married Maya after his release.
Armed with that history and an iron will, Burns pushes forward, telling Tommie and Ed to stay out of his way as he closes in on Wong, weaving through international streets in a relentless pursuit that climbs toward a final confrontation with his nemesis.
