FBI agent Roy Parmenter (Sidney Poitier) meets young Jeff Grant (River Phoenix) when the teen applies for the Air Force Academy. But some information catches Parmenter's eye and alerts him to the fact that all is not right. He finds that Jeff is the son of "sleeper" Soviet agents, planted in the US many years ago. In the course of Roy's investigation, he manages to develop a warm friendship with the boy. So he can't help but to get involved when he finds that someone else is trying to disturb the Grants' quiet life -- Parmenter's old rival, KGB operative Karpov. Karpov wants to force the reluctant Grants to go after a renegade Russian spy. Now the two cold war adversaries, Parmenter and Karpov, become once again engaged in a battle of wits and nerves... with the fate of the Grants at stake.