James Barbour Matlock is a Vietnam veteran and college professor - but now the US government have an assignment for him. They want him to investigate what seems to be a large-scale dope and prostitution business; and they`ll go to any lengths to find the answers they need. Matlock is soon trapped in a maze of unrelenting terror, as the people he cares for most are under threat. Would he have accepted the job if he`d known just what it would mean? But the faceless men in Washington only care about one thing: that Matlock is the perfect man for the job - for a reason that is deadly, violent and extremely