Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner) is a Navy commander in the Pentagon who begins a romantic involvement with Susan Atwell (Sean Young) whom he later discovers is the mistress of the Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene Hackman). After discovering their relationship, the Defense Secretary kills his mistress in a fit of jealous rage. He has LT Cdr Farrell assigned to investigate her death and develops an intricate scheme to disguise his involvement. The Secretary's number two man Scott Pritchard (Will Patton) helps to lure Farrell into an web of deception in which he quickly finds himself trapped. Several sequences of intense chases through the Washington, DC area add to the suspenseful nature of this remake of 1948's The Big Clock.