Running from the law, Vietnam vet Cameron stumbles on a movie shoot just in time to interfere with a staged accident, causing the stunt man's death. Rather than turn Cameron in, director Eli Cross makes him an offer he can't refuse: replace the dead stunt man in return for safe harbor. Despite objections about Cameron's inexperience, Eli keeps him on, figuring that a vet will add an extra charge of realism to the World War I opus that he's filming.. As leading lady Nina returns Cameron's affections, and Eli becomes ever more inscrutably mercurial, Cameron begins to wonder how far Eli will go to get the screen effects he wants, and if he would think twice about killing the stunt man..