In a restroom in the White House, a janitor finds secretary Carla Town dead. Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia homicide detective Harlan Regis, whose apartment block is awaiting demolition in favor of a parking lot, is put on the case. At the White House, Regis is introduced to United States Secret Service Director of the United States Secret Service Nick Spikings, National Security Advisor (United States) Alvin Jordan, and Secret Service agent Nina Chance. Spikings assigns Chance, a former 1988 Summer Olympics sharpshooter, to keep an eye on Regis.