Gay detective Donald Strachey is commissioned to protect gay activist John Rutka, who is known for "outing" prominent citizens. Strachey abandons bodyguard duty when he feels that Rutka is staging the threats against himself. When Rutka turns up dead, Strachey is faced with an extensive list of enemies all with enough motive to kill.

While attempting to flee from the FBI, the criminal Frank Dallio kills Detective McKenna's wife, Rachel. McKenna himself is shot in the face by the professional killer Lyle Mason, who dies in a car crash shortly thereafter. The FBI persuades McKenna to undergo facial surgery and take the place of Lyle Mason in order to find Dallio and a valuable microchip.

The real-life struggle to contain the environmental and financial damage caused to Alaska by the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez is dramatized.