An exposé of the war on drugs that traces cocaine's history and examines such aspects as Mafia power and U.S. involvement in Latin American politics.

I. Two New York City narcotics detectives learn of a scheme to smuggle a large quantity of heroin inside an automobile being shipped from France. II. Gene Hackman returns in the role of hard-hitting detective Popoeye Doyle who travels to Marseilles in prusuit of the heroin dealers who he hit, but failed to kill in New York.