Ray Dolezal, a bored Torrance County deputy sheriff, played by Samuel L. Jackson, investigates what looks like a desert suicide. Next to the body of Bob Spencer lies a suitcase stuffed with $500,000, and an autopsy reveals a digested scrap of paper bearing a phone number. Dolezal, assuming the identity of Spencer, calls the number, follows a lead to a meeting, is robbed, and told to rendezvous with Gorman Lennox, a gripping figure who operates at the edge of the law in a restaurant setting. The encounter rattles him, and FBI agent Greg Meeker, who intercepts Dolezal, explains that Spencer was actually an undercover agent. With the money now gone, Meeker urges Dolezal to either continue posing as Spencer to recover the cash or to help arrest Lennox.
Dolezal tracks Lennox to a deeper conspiracy and meets Lennox’s powerful associate Lane Bodine, Maura Tierney, learning that the cash is meant to fund a weapons deal to arm left-wing freedom fighters in South America. The guns are demonstrated for the pair, but the brokers demand an extra $250,000 due to unforeseen expenses. Meeker pushes the burden back onto Dolezal, who uses charm and his own sense of risk to win Lane’s interest and to recruit wealthy humanitarian donors to fund the operation. Meanwhile, two FBI internal affairs agents grow suspicious that Dolezal killed Spencer and stole the money. Faced with mounting pressure, Dolezal admits to Lane that he is not Spencer; nonetheless, Lane decides to back him because she sees him as a steadier option than the volatile Lennox.
Dolezal receives a new lead from Noreen, a woman who had a relationship with the real Spencer, who reveals that Spencer was working with an FBI agent who likely killed him. When Noreen spots Meeker, she flees, and the internal affairs agents ambush Dolezal. Lennox drives the agents off the road, and Dolezal escapes only to return to Lane’s orbit, where he discovers Noreen shot dead and finds a Polaroid of Noreen with Spencer and Meeker.
The tension erupts as Dolezal breaks into a surveillance van outside Lane’s house and subdues the FBI agent inside. He confronts Meeker, accusing him of being involved in Spencer’s death and Noreen’s murder. Meeker finally confesses: he took the $500,000 without authorization to steal the money and trap Lennox, using Spencer’s fear as a trigger to pull the trigger on a desert confrontation. He asserts that the Polaroid proves nothing and that no one will believe Dolezal’s word against a detective with a spotless record.
Lennox reveals an even bigger twist: Lane’s money and the mission are part of a CIA-backed plan intended to secure the survival of the military–industrial complex. Lennox eliminates the two internal affairs agents whose bodies lie in the trunk of his car, and he drives Dolezal to a deserted military base in the White Sands desert where Lane is waiting with the money. Dolezal must locate the missing $250,000 and prepare for a showdown.
After uncovering the cash in Lane’s horse stall, Dolezal kidnaps Meeker and drags him to White Sands, handcuffing him to a pipe inside an abandoned building. He warns that Lennox is CIA and that the FBI will arrive soon; Meeker can either face punishment or try to flee. Dolezal leaves behind a gun, prompting Meeker to grab it and hide in a bathroom stall. When Lennox arrives, Lane is waiting at the base entrance. Lennox asks for the location of the money, and Dolezal directs him to the abandoned building; inside, Meeker shoots Lennox, ending the volatile threat. After disabling Lennox’s car, Dolezal rescues Lane and returns her the $250,000 she had coerced from donors, explaining that he needs to return to his family and leave this life behind.
Before the FBI can arrive, Meeker slips from the pipe and bolts into the desert with the briefcase. Dolezal had left the original $500,000 hidden in Lennox’s car trunk to derail the investigation and keep his name clean. An agent notices footprints leading into White Sands, and a pursuit begins. Meeker stumbles and drops the briefcase, which rains down with nothing but sand inside. In the end, Dolezal drives home a free man, the case resolved and his life untouched by the looming shadow of a larger conspiracy.
