Handlung

An F.B.I. Agent teams up with a tracker to pursue a murderer after he vanishes into the mountains and infiltrates a hiking group.

Sidney Poitier returned to the big screen in this action-thriller, after a decade-long absence. When a cunning murderer vanishes into the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest, pursuing FBI agent Warren Stantin (Poitier) must exchange familiar city streets for unknown wilderness trails. Completely out of his element, Stantin is forced to enlist the aid of expert tracker Jonathan Knox (PLATOON'S Tom Berenger). The killer has infiltrated a guided hiking trip led by Knox's girlfriend Sarah (Kirstie Alley, at the height of her Cheers fame). Viewers don't know which of the hikers is the killer, and the tension lasts well into the movie.—Donny Dollar

The film opens with a man entering the fine jewelry store he owns in Seattle. He frantically gathers up a consignment of diamonds and is arrested when the security alarm in the store goes off. He tells the police he needs to take the diamonds back to his house where his wife is being held hostage. As the police surround his house, the criminal inside demands to go free. To make his point, the criminal lets the housekeeper free, only to shoot her in the back, killing her. He exits the house with the store owner's wife, however they are both covered in a bed comforter, preventing police snipers from killing him or the woman. The police, lead by FBI agent Warren Stantin, follow the man and his hostage to the waterfront where he boards a boat. The wife is shot dead and the killer escapes with the diamonds.

Stantin later receives a tip that the killer may have retreated to the mountains that boarder Washington State and British Columbia, with the intention of crossing the border to escape. A hiking party has chartered the services of a woman named Sarah, an expert guide in the region and the killer has joined them. Stantin hires Sarah's boyfriend, John Knox, to follow them. Knox, a fiercely independent and private man, is also an expert guide and tracker. At first he resists Stantin's attempts to hire him but later agrees. Knox helps Stantin gear up for the hike and warns him that they'll be crossing heavy terrain and he thinks Stantin won't be able to keep up.

As Stantin and Knox slowly catch up with Sarah's party, one of them, Norm, slips and falls off a ridge. As the killer, whose name is Steve, tries to help him up, his pistol falls into a crevice where he can't retrieve it. He has Norm hand it back to him and then lets go of his arm, letting him plummet into the canyon. When the rest of the party backtracks and sees what happened, Steve throws some of them over the cliff and forces the last man, Harvey, backward until he too falls. Sarah is horrified and panics, however, Steve quickly takes control and tells her to lead him to the Canadian border. Sarah reluctantly agrees and leads him further into the mountains but deliberately taking the longer route.

Stantin and Knox follow about a day behind and come to the ravine Sarah's party had crossed on a cabled basket. Right before they continued, Steve had cut the rope to retrieve the basket and had wedged the basket on the far side. Knox ties a rope to himself and crawls hand-over-hand on the cable to get the basket but it comes loose and knocks him off. Stantin is barely able to pull him up.

Further on, Sarah and Steve have holed up in a cabin on the trail. After binding Sarah's hands to an overhead beam, Steve uses their two-way radio to contact Sarah's base camp. They inform her that a powerful snowstorm is headed their way and they should stay put. They also inform Sarah that one of her party is a criminal wanted by the FBI.

Right before the storm hits, Knox and Stantin find themselves at the base of a chimney rock. Knox sets up a tent in the crevice for Stantin to shelter in during the storm and continues up the chimney himself, telling Stantin to stay in the tent during the storm and return to the base camp afterward. Stantin refuses and tries to climb up Knox's rope over Knox's objections. They hike further down the other side of the mountain when the storm hits. Stantin is overcome by the slashing wind and Knox orders them to stop and dig a shelter in the snow. They stay there until the storm passes, Knox using his body heat to keep Stantin from freezing.

Sarah and Steve have resumed their trek. When Sarah fakes an injury and hits Steve with a branch, she runs. Steve fires a shot at her which is heard by Knox and Stantin. Steve easily catches Sarah again. Knox and Stantin run in Sarah's direction but are unable to catch them -- Sarah and Steve have reached a highway and jump in a logging truck when Steve flags it down. Knox falls to his knees in defeat.

In Vancouver, BC, Stantin and Knox meet Stantin's agents and team up with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. A lead has surfaced: people have been killed in a manner similar to others in the case. They are able to track Sarah and Steve to a nearby plaza and surround it. Steve escapes, leaving Sarah behind. Knox and Stantin track him to a ferry boat and find him with another hostage. They are eventually able to separate Steve from his hostage and Steve and Stantin fall into the water. Stantin shoots the killer with his pistol and is pulled from the water by Knox.