Tim Kearney is a prison inmate who is recruited by federal agent Tad Gruzsa to impersonate Bobby Z, so that Tim can be exchanged for Tad's colleague held hostage by drug kingpin Don Huertero. But at the handover, just as Tim steps toward Huertero, Tad shoots and misses, revealing this was never meant to end with him alive. Realizing the swap was a setup, Tim escapes into the night and goes on the run.
Passing off as Bobby Z, Tim is taken to Brian's hacienda, where he meets Elizabeth. She explains that the boy Kit under her care is Bobby Z's son with Huertero's daughter, and that Huertero intends to kill Bobby Z for abandoning his daughter. Tim resolves to flee with Kit, but they are pursued by Brian's men and manage a tense escape to a nearby town. The duo forms an uneasy alliance as they dodge threats and try to stay one step ahead of those who would see them captured or killed.
Huertero retaliates by killing Brian for letting Tim slip away, but he spares Elizabeth and Brian's aide Johnson on the condition that they deliver Bobby Z alive to him within three days. Meanwhile, Tad hires hitmen for $20,000 to finish Tim once and for all, escalating the clock you can feel ticking in the background. The tension tightens as Tim, still posing as Bobby Z, reaches out to Monk for a passport and cash, hoping to secure safe passage that might mean a chance at normal life.
In the new town, trouble erupts when Johnson is waiting for Tim at the hideout, and a bomb blasts him, forcing Tim to flee with Kit to a party at Monk's place. There, Elizabeth appears and leads Tim to a beach house where Huertero waits with anger and vengeance. Huertero bluntly accuses Bobby Z of using his daughter and abandoning her, but Elizabeth counters with a shocking revelation: Kit is Huertero's granddaughter. A ferocious fight follows, and Elizabeth shoots Huertero while Tim annihilates the henchmen, turning the tide of the confrontation.
Monk reconnects with Elizabeth aboard his boat, but Tim arrives wielding a gun and steals both the vessel and a bag of cash. The hitmen Tad hired close in, yet Tad himself arrives with the real Bobby Z at a critical moment. Tim publicly declares himself as Tim, pointing to Bobby Z to confuse the men. The hitmen, unsure who the real Tim is, open fire on Bobby Z, killing both Bobby Z and Tad. With the danger behind them for now, Tim joins Elizabeth and Kit on a sunset boat ride out to sea, seeking whatever future may lie ahead together.
