The sleepy appearance of an Appalachian coal-mining community belies the presence of a sinister toxic waste-dumping scheme that is poisoning local plant and animal life as well as area residents. The murder of an environmental protection agency investigator leads officials to assign Jack Taggart (Steven Segal) to go undercover as a handyman working through a relief mission. It doesn't take him long to discover that the mastermind of the dumping is local businessman Orin Hanner (Kris Kristofferson). Along the way, Taggart falls for the mysterious Sarah Kellogg (Marg Helgenberger), a young woman ostracized for a sordid past and a father who died under suspicious circumstances while working for Hanner. When Taggart's undercover work proves ineffective, he provokes a direct confrontation with the villain and his henchmen that results in plenty of Segal's trademark martial arts action. In addition to kicking the stuffing out of bad guys, Segal demonstrates a real knack for playing bluegrass guitar.