Mercenary Karl Thomasson (Treat Williams) comes to Long Island to pass along a medal to his dead friend's daughter, college English teacher Nicole Stewart (Rebecca Staab). When Nicole is attacked by student football players who are afraid she might fail them, Karl acts as her substitute teacher to discover who was behind the beating. Investigating the campus, he learns that football coach Bill Braden (Scott Wilkinson) is giving his team steroids and will stop at nothing to achieve success.