- A group of several different la enforcement agencies along with a race boat driver come together with a common goal of stopping the drug traffic to the US.
- Miami drug kingpin Tom Rampy uses boats with false bottoms, transponders on drug packages, radar jammers, and an experimental boat design capable of traveling in excess of 100 knots to evade the US Coast Guard and US Customs Service. Wealthy boat designer Ben Bishop, feeling guilty that his boat designs are used to smuggle drugs, uses his political influence to create an interagency "River Intelligence Unit". When two US Customs agents, two Miami narcotics officers, a Florida Marine Patrol officer, and a US Coast Guard officer apprehend one of Rampy's henchmen, but bicker over who gets the credit for the arrest, Bishop has them assigned to the unit. They are joined by a Bahamas Defence Force officer attached to the US Coast Guard. A former employee of Rampy's, a boat racer arrested after he broke into Rampy's house to take the money Rampy owed him, is persuaded to assist them. They form an uneasy team, lacking trust due to an apparent mole informing Rampy of their plans. Bishop provides them his own prototype boat capable of matching Rampy's.—Reefmonkey
- A US Coast Guard radar station monitoring sea and air traffic off South Florida at night detects a surface contact traveling in excess of 100 knots, and executing 30 degree turns without losing speed. They are incredulous that a boat could travel that fast, especially in 6 foot seas, but it is an experimental boat design, driven by professional boat racer Danny Paladino (Rob Estes), with Miami drug kingpin Tom Rampy (Dennis Boutsikaris) riding next to him. Rampy and Palidino return to their home base and celebrate the successful test of the boat, but then argue as Palidino demands payment for his services but Rampy puts him off until the next day.
The following day Rampy and an associate are in a boat awaiting a drug shipment drop from an airplane, but are being monitored by US Customs agents in an aircraft and a US Coast Guard cutter, along with US Customs agents Hector "Detector" Cannero (Jsu Garcia) and Bobby "Mad Dog" Garland (Ash Adams) waiting in a cigarette boat nearby. When they realize they are about to be stopped and boarded by the cutter, Rampy and his henchman drop the drug shipment though a false bottom in their boat. The shipment has a radio transponder so Rampy can retrieve it later. The boat is searched by Lieutenant Jeffrey Cade (Anthony Rene Jones) of the Bahamian Defence Force, who is attached to the USCG cutter, giving it jurisdiction to interdict in Bahamian waters. Cade comes up empty for drugs, but observes the false bottom which allowed Rampy to dump the drugs.
Later that evening, Rampy and his henchman return to the spot and retrieve the drugs. They are seen on radar by Cannero and Garland, who pursue them on boat, but lose them when Rampy opens a camouflaged cave in a bridge and hides inside. Meanwhile, Sergeant Lon Otto (John J. York) and Detective Rosie O'Shea (Freddie Simpson) of the Miami-Dade Police Department are tipped off about a radio and radar jamming station set up in a hotel penthouse. They head over to the hotel to investigate.
Having thrown off Cannero and Garland, Rampy emerges from the cave, passing Florida Marine Patrol officer Moby Griffin (Peter Murnik) at high speed through a no wake zone. Griffin initiates pursuit in his boat, trying to call in for backup, but the jamming station jams his transmission before he can complete it. Meanwhile, Otto and O'Shea enter the hotel room and throw the jamming equipment into the hotel pool. Griffin is now able to complete his transmission, which is heard by Garland and Cannero and US Coast Guard Lieutenant Adam Wheaton (Todd Schaffer), who also join the pursuit. In desperation, Rampy runs his boat onto shore. Rampy is able to escape by carjacking a nearby motorist, but his henchman is injured, and is apprehended by Griffin. Otto and O'Shea arrive to find Griffin, Wheaton, and the two Customs agents arguing over who should get to arrest the henchman, and while O'Shea uses her feminine wiles to distract the other officers, Otto puts the henchman in his car.
Millionaire speedboat designer Ben Bishop (Chad Everett) reads about the incident in the newspaper the next morning, and is inspired to call a congressman he knows to have Cannero, Garland, Griffin, Wheaton, Otto and O'Shea, along with a Bahamian Defence Force boat rider, attached to the River Intelligence Unit, a computer center, to work together.
Meanwhile, Otto and O'Shea tail Rampy to an outdoor restaurant, where they see him meeting with Danny Paladino, who they recognize. Paladino argues with Rampy again, who still refuses to pay him for his work, unless he agrees to run drugs for Rampy, which Paladino refuses. They follow Paladino to Rampy's house, where Paladino sneaks in and uses skills he acquired when he was a Navy UDT swimmer to blow a hole in Rampy's safe. Paladino takes the money he is owed, but also finds a piece of paper with dates and latitude-longitude coordinates on it, and he jots down a copy and returns the paper to the safe. He escapes the house, pursued by Otto with gun drawn, and dives into a canal. Cannero and Garland see Otto with a gun but no badge, warn him to drop his gun, then shoot him in the leg. O'Shea then comes and chews them out for shooting a cop. Cannero then spots Paladino hiding by using a beer can as a makeshift snorkel and hauls him out of the water. O'Shea, Cannero and Garland, and Wheaton converge on the police station to interrogate Paladino, where they are observed bickering by Bishop, the congressman, and justice department officials. Bishop intimates to the congressmen and the officials that he feels guilty his boats are used by drug runners, and that he sold his business for a tidy sum to Rampy before finding out Rampy was a drug runner.
The next day, Garland, Cannero, Griffin, Wheaton, Cade, Otto and O'Shea show up at River Intelligence where they have been reassigned, and Bishop explains the new arrangement. After lunch, Bishop visits Paladino in jail, where Paladino is about to be released because Rampy won't press charges (likely so Rampy can have him killed on the street). Bishop gets Paladino to agree to cooperate in exchange for protection, and Paladino tells him about the coordinates he found in Rampy's safe. The team figures out the dated coordinates are for drug drops, and arranges to intercept the next shipment. Their operation fails, however, when the drop is moved 20 miles away and uses the experimental boat Rampy and Paladino tested at the beginning of the film. The team goes back and accuses Paladino of double crossing them, but he indignantly asserts his innocence, and accuses one of them of being a mole who tipped Rampy off.
The following day, the team serves Rampy with a search warrant, and finds no drugs, but does see the experimental boat up close. Shortly after, Wheaton and Cade observe Bishop meeting with Rampy, and become suspicious. They share their suspicions with the rest of the team, and they all confront Bishop together. Bishop tries to explain that he just had to conclude the sale of his company to Rampy, but that only makes them angrier, and that means Rampy will now have a fleet of fast boats comparable to what US Customs has. Bishop tries to explain that he still has a prototype boat that wasn't part of the deal that is faster than anything Rampy will have, and they can catch him with that, but they aren't satisfied, and all quit the team.
Later that night, Rampy is meeting with someone, paying him off to help him, and that person turns out to be Otto, who was the mole the whole time. O'Shea observes Otto's perfidy, and tells Wheaton. They and the rest of the team decide not to quit. The rest of the team pretends not to know about Otto's treachery, and they tell Otto about their plans to intercept another one of Rampy's shipments, knowing Otto will go inform Rampy.
While this is going on, Bishop, Rampy, and a US Customs officer meet in Bishop's office. The Customs officer informs Rampy that his prior conviction would violate a morals clause in a contract Customs has with Bishop's company to sell them boats if Rampy became the owner. Without the contract, the company is not worth nearly as much. Bishop returns Rampy's money, but when Rampy tries to shake him down for more, Bishop punches him and kicks him out of his office.
Knowing that Otto is the mole, the rest of the team approaches Bishop and apologizes for doubting him. He accepts their apology and shows them his prototype boat that can beat Rampy's. Bishop tells them they need Paladino to drive it, and they apologize for suspecting him, some more begrudgingly than others. The team in Bishop's boat then chases down Rampy in his, forcing him to crash, and apprehend him as he clings to one of his bales of drugs for flotation, ensuring he will go to prison for a long time.
Back at team headquarters, they celebrate their victory, until O'Shea confronts Otto for his treachery. Otto pulls his gun, and the rest of the team pulls their guns on him. It is O'Shea who shoots him, and they say a tearful goodbye as he apologizes and then dies in her arms. Sometime later, as Bishop narrates, O'Shea joins Garland, Cannero, Paladino, Griffin, Cade, and Wheaton in a hot tub in the newly renovated River Intelligence Unit headquarters. They share a laugh and a high five as the camera freeze-frames.
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