Charlie Smith (Jack Nicholson) barely scrapes by on his low salary, but his hectoring wife, Marcy (Valerie Perrine), is anxious to move up in the world, so he takes a new position as a border patrol agent alongside the hair-trigger Cat (Harvey Keitel). Soon, Charlie is a reluctant party to Cat's smuggling and other petty criminal actions, but when the corrupt agent sets his avaricious sights on a poor illegal immigrant (Elpidia Carrillo) and her newborn baby, Charlie's moral code returns.