Norris plays Scott James, an ex-martial artist who gets drawn into the world of international terrorism after the death of his would be girlfriend and her family at the hands of a ninja death squad, trained by someone who James has familial ties with...sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Well, that's the short and skinny of it...the plot is actually much more involved and convoluted (i.e. confusing) as the story is swimming with all kinds of extraneous characters and plot threads including, but not limited to, a publishing heiress threatened by the same death squad, opposing mercenary groups, one lead by Van Cleef (his acts more in the capacity of bodyguards/anti-terrorists, while the other is involved in terrorism), a ninja training camp, and a girl who was once a trainee in the aforementioned camp, but now wants out.