Erin Grant is a divorced mother fighting to regain custody of her daughter. Her ex-husband Darrell, a career criminal and drug addict, has schemed to get custody from her. Erin works at a strip club to pay her bills and pay her custody attorney. One night, investment analyst Paul Guber comes into the club to celebrate his bachelor party. He gets a little too drunk and jumps on stage, grabbing Erin's leg and professing his love for her. Congressman David Dilbeck, wearing a disguise so as not to be noticed, grabs a champagne bottle and whacks Guber over the head. One of Guber's buddies just happened to be taking pictures at the time. A customer, Jerry Killian, recognizes the congressman despite his disguise.

Killian tries to impress Erin by blackmailing the congressman. He wants Dilbeck to speak to the judge handling Erin's custody case. Dilbeck's handler, Malcolm Moldowsky, cannot allow a scandal with re-election and a sugar subsidy vote looming. Dilbeck is financially backed by the powerful Rojo family who control the sugar business of south Florida. When Moldowsky is unsuccessful with the judge, he makes an intricate plan to kill Killian. Killian's body turns up in a Montana river, apparently a drowning victim on a fishing trip. His body is found by Sgt. Al Garcia, a homicide detective from Miami. Garcia becomes involved in the case.

As soon as the Killian problem is solved, another arises. Guber's fiancye discovers a copy of the incriminating photo. She shows it to her cousin, Mordecai, an attorney. He knows Dilbeck from years ago. He knows the power of the photograph and suggests contacting Dilbeck about a settlement to keep them from filing suit. Guber refuses to play any part in the demand, but Mordecai and Guber's fiancye proceed anyway. Moldowsky listens to Mordecai's blackmail proposal. Ultimately, instead of paying a $2-3 million settlement, Dilbeck's supporters order the murder of the lawyer and the fiancye.

Sgt. Garcia's investigation into Killian's murder leads him to Erin. She becomes involved in the case and wants to help. She feels partly responsible because Killian was trying to help her when he was murdered. Dilbeck, meanwhile, has developed an interest in Erin after seeing her in the incriminating photo. He wants a "date" and Erin will oblige in order to gather information on Killian's murder. During the first meeting between Erin and Dilbeck, Erin is not successful at obtaining information. Dilbeck is smitten with her and wants a second date.

Erin's custody case is resolved when the custody judge, who happens to enjoy strip clubs, falls dead of an aneurysm just before getting a dance from his favorite stripper. Erin reclaims her daughter, which throws Darrell into a rage.

By the time the second meeting occurs, Garcia has developed enough circumstantial evidence to implicate Moldowsky in the murders of Killian, Mordecai, and Guber's fiancye. Erin hatches a plan to fix Dilbeck. As she executes her plan during the date, Darrell unexpectedly shows up. Erin takes them at gunpoint to the sugar cane fields. She forces Dilbeck to strip to his boxers and cut cane. Darrell, meanwhile, escapes, only to fall asleep in a drug-induced fog in the bed of a sugar cane truck and wind up chopped to bits by a sugar processing machine. At the same time, once Dilbeck is good and sweaty from cutting cane, Erin encourages him to chase her into the sugar cane field. Moments later, as she planned, the FBI shows up in response to a call about an alleged kidnapping. They find Dilbeck, wrestling with Erin in the field. Instead of having him arrested, Garcia and Erin convince him to continue his political campaign, but then feign a heart attack the day after the election and resign his seat.