Michael J. "Jay" Cochran is a U.S. Navy aviator who leaves the service after twelve years and receives a matched pair of Beretta shotguns along with an invitation from his wealthy friend, Tiburon "Tibey" Mendez, to spend time at his hacienda in Mexico. Tibey is a powerful crime boss, always surrounded by bodyguards, and the invitation promises a life of luxury far from Cochran’s naval days.
In Mexico, Cochran meets Tibey's wife, Miryea, who enjoys lavish surroundings but is clearly unhappy. She resents that her much older husband refuses to have children, which she believes would threaten her youth and beauty. From the moment Cochran arrives, Tibey’s right-hand man, Cesar, eyes him with suspicion, taking issue with Cochran’s independent streak and his reluctance to simply follow orders.
A tense dinner with Tibey, Cesar, and a couple of the man’s crude associates sets a harsh tone for Cochran’s stay. Tibey demonstrates his brutal code of discipline, a standard that unsettles Cochran and foreshadows the danger lurking beneath the surface of luxuries and smiles. Despite the menacing atmosphere, Cochran and Miryea grow closer, and an undeniable attraction blooms between them.
At a glamorous party, with Tibey and his entourage nearby, Cochran and Miryea engage in a secret affair. Cochran reveals he plans to leave Mexico, fearing Tibey will discover the relationship. Miryea begs him to stay, and moved by his feelings, Cochran agrees. They secretly arrange a rendezvous at Cochran’s cabin in the Mexican countryside, hoping to carve out a private, quiet escape from Tibey’s world.
Miryea tells Tibey she will visit her sister in Miami, but he overhears a troubling telephone exchange in which she asks her sister to lie for her. Tibey drives Miryea to the airport, giving her a last kiss before she leaves. Cochran waits inside the airport and the two lovers set off together toward the cabin, seeking a future apart from the wealth and power that surround Tibey.
Their hideaway is compromised when Tibey and his men ambush them. Cochran’s beloved dog Rocky is killed, and Miryea is slashed across the face with a switchblade, receiving a deep scar. Tibey’s henchmen viciously beat Cochran, and after setting the cabin ablaze, they abandon him to die in the desert.
Tibey then takes Miryea to a brothel to be a sex slave. The madame initially rejects her because of the disfiguring scar, but she ultimately consigns Miryea to “common use.” Miryea endures rape, and a cruel scheme unfolds as a young man is hired to drug and addict her. He uses unsterilized needles, and Miryea, overwhelmed by despair, convinces him to share a needle, infecting herself with AIDS.
Critically wounded, Cochran is found by Mauro, a peasant farmer, whose family nurses him back to health. He returns to the burned cabin, retrieves some money he had hidden, and is driven by Mauro to town, who gives him a knife to “cut the balls off your enemy.” In a cantina, Cochran spots one of Tibey’s thugs and stalks him into the men’s room, where he ends the threat by slitting the man’s throat. A Texan transporting a horse later ferries Cochran to Durango, and Cochran discovers the Texan dies peacefully in his car after a quiet moment of companionship.
At a motel, Cochran encounters Mauro’s brother-in-law Amador, who, along with his quiet friend Ignacio, agrees to help Cochran seek revenge because Amador’s sister was killed in the same business that ensnares Tibey. They capture another henchman who reveals Miryea’s location. Cochran and his allies storm the brothel, only to learn that Miryea has already been moved.
The trio ambushes Tibey during a morning horseback ride. Cochran asks Tibey for Miryea’s whereabouts, but Tibey chooses to test Cochran first, asking him to seek forgiveness for stealing his wife. Instead, Tibey reveals that Miryea is in a convent.
In a convent hospice, Miryea lies dying of AIDS as Cochran arrives to tell her that he loves her. He carries her outside, and Miryea returns his love before she dies in his arms, leaving Cochran to mourn the loss of the woman he cherished.
