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FBI agent Frank LaCrosse has spent more than a year hunting a serial killer who taunts the bureau with messages about his crimes. When the killer abducts LaCrosse's son, the pursuit becomes personal, and the agency removes him from the investigation. He keeps going anyway, against the wishes of a Texas sheriff who has his own reasons to want the matter handled quietly.

The trail leads through Amarillo and into snow-covered mountain country, where two men become the focus of suspicion: an experienced trucker and a young student travelling the West Coast as a hitchhiker. One of them is the killer, and only that man knows where the boy is being held.

Jeb Stuart wrote and directed the film, his first time in the director's chair after writing the screenplays for 48 Hrs. and Die Hard. Dennis Quaid plays LaCrosse, with Danny Glover, R. Lee Ermey, Jared Leto and Ted Levine among a cast of 57 credited performers; Gale Anne Hurd produced. Made for about 37 million dollars and released in October 1997, it took in roughly 6 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 4.8 from 26 reviews, while on TMDB it has a 6 out of 10 from 262 votes. Its scale — a 118-minute thriller shot across several states — is not reflected in that commercial result.