Richard Ryder is a reluctant warrior, an old-fashioned action-hero with a lot of new-fangled problems. An ex-Army Ranger, Ryder is enjoying life in semi-retirement with his girlfriend, Karen, on an idyllic tropical island. Then Karen's high school friend, Tao Reese, shows up with big plans that include retrieving a lost shipment of heroin from some very dangerous people, including a drug kingpin with a fondness for sharpened sticks, a henchman named Liberace Jones, and a lady warrior with a machete.