Hollywood, Saturday, March 9th, 1963: Los Angeles Police Department detectives Karl Hettinger (Savage) and Ian Campbell (Danson) are kidnapped by criminals Greg Powell (Woods) and Jimmy "Youngblood" Smith (Seales). They are driven to an onion field near Bakersfield, California, where Campbell is shot and killed before Hettinger narrowly escapes as a cloud passes in front of the moon, plunging the onion field into darkness.