Fresh out of prison on his latest stint inside in being a career criminal in his native Britain, Wilson, an uneducated Cockney, heads to Los Angeles in learning that his young adult daughter Jennifer died in a car accident there, her car careening over a cliff into a fiery blaze at the bottom. Despite not being a present father because of his prison stints, Wilson is certain in knowing Jennifer that her death was no accident and that someone was behind it. With information from a couple of Jennifer's friends who she met in her pursuit of being an actress, fellow acting student Ed, who works in a restaurant kitchen, and Elaine, one of her acting coaches, Wilson learns more about Jennifer's life in Los Angeles and becomes certain that the person behind her death is the older wealthy man she had been living with, 1960s rock music promoter Terry Valentine, while not knowing the reason why he would have wanted her dead. Thus begins a battle not only to the death but of wits between Wilson and Valentine, the former who not only wants to discover the reason for Valentine killing Jennifer before Wilson in turn kills him, but who wants Valentine to know in return why he is after him. Getting in the middle is Valentine's similarly upscale security consultant, Jim Avery, whose job it is not only to protect Valentine from whatever harm or threat exists, but to ensure that both he and Valentine appear clean to the outside world in their criminal endeavors.