Nick Curran is a boozy San Francisco police detective who finds himself drawn to the prime suspect in a murder case. She is manipulative, sexually uninhibited novelist Catherine Tramell. Catherine's latest book features a murder uncannily similar to the one Nick is investigating and as the pair engage in a mating dance of dangerous one-upmanship more murders occur, all are exactly as described in her current work about a boozy cop in love with a killer. Nick's psychiatrist and his police partner are both worried about him. Added to the mix is Catherine's jealous lesbian lover who just may be trying to kill him - but Nick is so turned on to care.