In 1988, a radicalized junior enlisted Army service member managed to orchestrate the theft of Cold War era production nuclear artillery shell, and brought it to South America, storing it for an eventual terrorist attack against the United States. Years later, shortly after her death, her son and her Colombian housekeeper join forces to carry out her legacy. Bruce Highland rises to his highest level of skill and perseverance in the effort to find and stop the psychopathic, homicidal pair before they are able to unleash a weapon of mass destruction in a major metropolitan area.