On a cold, rainy night in a deserted section of Tysons Corner, Secret Service agents murder a young woman in cold blood. Congressional intern, Emily Hoffman, witnesses the grisly crime and flees for her life to Manhattan, seeking the aid of her physician, Dr. John Cesari. The killers soon track her down and Cesari decides they must leave the country to keep her safe. Cesari's mob friend, Vito Gianelli, needs to travel to Palermo to interrogate certain individuals who have offended him, and he convinces Cesari to join forces with him in Sicily. Together, they turn the old country on its head battling local mafiosi, ungrateful family, and the United States Secret Service in this exhilarating thriller which roars to a dramatic climax on the slopes of Mount Etna, angrily spewing lava in the background.