Have you ever wondered how excessive, runaway personal injury judgments affect the defendants who have to pay them? Peter Martin, a decorated Navy SEAL, returns from Vietnam to his roots in southwest Louisiana and becomes the victim of such a judgment. A minor vehicle accident results in a grossly excessive judgment in favor of two lying plaintiffs who are represented by a sleazy personal injury lawyer with close ties to the presiding judge. The judgment results in the loss of Martinas business and the death of his wife. He sets out to get satisfaction for his loss by extreme means, while trying to put his life together and while being pursued by a suspicious black state police lieutenant who is being groomed to become the head of the state police.