When the hero Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is again imprisoned for a series of crimes this time he is sent to Los Angeles in 2013. Several years earlier a major earthquake caused the San Fernando Valley to fill with water and turn Los Angeles into an island, and subsequently a prison for the worst of criminals. When Snake arrives he is invited to visit with the President (Cliff Robertson) who offers him a mission to recover a top secret device which has been stolen by a criminal named Cuervo Jones (Georges Corraface). Since the device is capable of bringing a lot of destruction to the earth they need it back, but Snake knows that the people at the top are rarely being honest with him, and goes about to make things work for him.