Frank Walsh (Nicolas Cage) a skilled big-game hunter, has caught an extremely rare white jaguar in the rain forests of Brazil and wants to sell it to a zoo for a fortune. His assistant refuses to help him move the animal because of local superstition. Frank books a container ship to deliver the jaguar along with other animals to the U.S. However, US Marshals also need the ship to transport a notorious political assassin, Richard Loffler, who is being extradited in order to be brought to trial.