Out of work and desperate for backing to produce his latest script, Blonde Lightning, Mark Hayes teams up with Clyde McCoy, an obstinate, hard drinking veteran screenwriter. With a popular action star and a sexy up and comer on board in the lead roles, Clyde is determined to make the picture happen. But when a crew member is nearly electrocuted, and Clyde's girlfriend is almost killed in another suspicious accident, Clyde suspects sabotage. When the payback plot takes an unscripted, deadly turn, Mark realizes that the only way out is to wade deeper into a violent nightmare of treachery, lies, and murder as black and inescapable as the La Brea tar pits.