World-weary police Lt. Tunner (Barry Sullivan) and the fugitive Creole convict named Jory (Vittorio Gassman), whom he hotly pursues to his Southern hometown, are on opposite sides of the law. But strangely, they're also kindred souls, both extremely devoted to their wives, yet worn down by the justice system and determined to end their cat-and-mouse chase. That won't come without a primal clash testing each to the limits of survival -- as well as their common humanity -- in the treacherous Louisiana bayous.