Plot

After discovering that his wife is cheating on him, an insomniac aerospace engineer accidentally meets, and tries to help, a beautiful model on the run from some extremely dangerous people.

Ed Okin's life is somewhat out of control. He can't sleep, his wife betrays him, and his job is dull. One night, he starts to drive through Los Angeles, and he finally ends in the parking garage of Los Angeles International Airport. Moments later, a beautiful young lady jumps onto his bonnet and he finds himself being chased by four Iranians. What follows is a wild chase through the streets of Los Angeles, and a very funny one too.—Harald Mayr <[email protected]>

In Los Angeles, California, Ed Okin (Jeff Goldblum) suffers from insomnia. His wife, Ellen (Stacey Pickren), asks if there is anything she can do, but Ed senses her distraction. On the way to work with his friend, Herb (Dan Akyroyd), Ed complains about his dead-end job as an aerospace engineer at Communtronics, and about his complacent wife. Herb suggests he take a midnight flight to Las Vegas, Nevada, and have some fun.

Later, Ed dozes off at a meeting, and makes errors upon waking when asked for his input. He leaves work at lunchtime to take a nap, and when he arrives home, he finds Ellen in bed with another man. However, Ed leaves without making his presence known, and returns that evening pretending he does not know of his wife's affair.

Later that night, Ed drives to the airport and parks his car. Elsewhere in the parking garage, a man named Hasi is stabbed to death by four men, while his companion, Diana (Michelle Pfeifer) runs away. As the men pursue, Diana asks Ed to drive her to safety. He agrees, and the gun-wielding men give chase. When Ed reports the men to the security guards, Diana changes her story and pretends everything is fine, then persuades Ed to drive her to a marina. Diana seeks shelter on the boat of her former lover, Jack Caper, but finds Jack's friend, Larry (Jack Steinfield), there, and he refuses to help. Ed reluctantly agrees to drive Diana to an address in Hollywood. The four pursuers arrive at the marina and hold Larry at gunpoint while they search the boat.

Ed walks Diana into a Hollywood apartment, and is amused to find it decorated in Elvis Presley memorabilia. She explains that it is the home of her brother, Charlie. While Ed waits, Diana telephones her friend, Christie, and asks to stay with her. Charlie returns, dressed as an Elvis impersonator, and argues with Diana about the money she owes him. When she asks him to return the keys to her automobile, Charlie tells her he rented it to a friend. Ed leaves, and discovers his automobile has been towed. Diana begs him to stay and help her, but he refuses. However, when Ed sees her attackers arrive, he and Diana steal her brother's vintage automobile and flee. Ed asks again about the men, and Diana explains that she returned from Europe with an item the men are after. When she refuses to divulge more information, Ed threatens to leave, but is swayed by her pleas.

Sometime later Ed and Diana arrive on the set of a television show where Christie, an actress, is filming a scene. Diana bids farewell to Ed, but he waits for her as she speaks to her friend. Christie agrees to hold onto the unnamed item for Diana, and zips it into the hidden pocket of her jacket. Later, Diana telephones her former lover, Jack, to ask for help, but his estranged wife, Joan, hangs up on her.

Ed asks Diana to drive him to the impound lot to collect his automobile, but she pleads for his continued help, and reveals that her traveling companion, Hasi, was killed at the airport, and that she smuggled in six valuable emeralds from Europe, that once belonged to an ancient Persian king. Ed wants to go to the police, but Diana fears she will be arrested, as she accepted $25,000 to bring the stones into the country. She asks Ed to contact her friend, Hamid Moratti, on her behalf, while she waits by a telephone for Hamid's call.

Ed enters a private casino and asks Hamid's assistant, Mr. Williams, to speak to Hamid. Learning that Diana is in trouble, Hamid agrees to help, and telephones her with instructions to meet him at his hotel. Meanwhile, Ed is spotted by the attackers, but they lose sight of him on the street. However, Ed is confronted by a British man named Colin Morris, who claims to work for a Monsieur Melville. He puts a gun in Ed's mouth, demanding the stones. Ed is saved when police patrolling the area drive past, and Morris leaves.

At Hamid's hotel, Diana kisses Ed goodbye. However, after she leaves, Ed fears for her safety, and follows her up to Hamid's suite. Entering the room, Ed sees the stabbed bodies of Hamid, Mr. Williams, and two women, and Colin Morris emerges from the shadows holding a knife to Diana's throat. Mr. Williams rouses and attacks Morris, while Ed and Diana escape down the stairwell. The attackers arrive at the hotel, and chase Ed and Diana, who hail a taxicab. Their driver adeptly outruns the gunmen, before throwing Ed and Diana out of his taxi.

Ed and Diana catch their breath at an all-night diner. Ed believes they should go to the police, but Diana insists they visit Jack for help. She tells Ed that she was Jack's lover for five years before he abruptly ended their affair. Ed tells Diana about his insomnia and his unfaithful wife.

As daylight arrives, Christie and her director boyfriend, Bud Herman, return to their beach home, and are followed inside by the four gunmen. Elsewhere, Diana and Ed return to Charlie's apartment and find it ransacked. Monsieur Melville emerges from the bedroom and kidnaps them at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, the gunmen search Christie's home for the emeralds, and when she escapes to the beach, the attackers pursue and drown her, unbeknownst to Bud. Diana leads Melville to Christie's home to retrieve the stones, but they arrive to find police officers surrounding her home. Diana enters the home alone, so as not to attract attention, and asks Bud for the coat, claiming that Christie borrowed it from her.

Police officers question Diana about the break-in and her missing friend, then search the coat before allowing Diana to leave with it. She asks Sheriff Peterson to walk her to the car where Ed and Monsieur Melville await, then tricks Melville into getting out of the vehicle and drives away with Ed. They arrive at Jack's home, but wait until nightfall to sneak into the estate. Once inside, Diana finds her elderly lover lying on a hospital bed. When Jack tells her he is sick and being cared for by his estranged wife, Joan, Diana understands why he never received her messages. Jack assures Diana that he is still fond of her, and dismisses Joan when she enters the room. Diana reveals her plight, and Jack believes that Hasi's aunt, Shaheen Parvizi, is behind the attacks. He suggests they sell the prideful woman the emeralds, and that Diana flee the country.

Diana says a tearful goodbye to Jack, then plots an escape with Ed, who agrees to meet with Shaheen and arrange to sell the emeralds. Ed takes three of the six stones to the woman while Diana hides the remaining gems at a flower market. Ed negotiates a deal, and meets Diana at the airport. Before boarding an airplane, Diana telephones Shaheen with the location of the remaining emeralds. After boarding and believing they are safe, they are forced to leave the plane due to mechanical difficulties. Shaheen's men await and take them hostage. As they walk through the airport, Melville arrives and his men attack. However, federal agents step in, and a shoot-out ensues. Diana is held at gunpoint by Shaheen's henchman, and Ed tries to talk the man into releasing her. The exhausted Ed wonders aloud about his unfaithful wife and his inability to sleep, and the gunman unexpectedly shoots himself. Ed and Diana are taken into custody by police and driven to a motel. Elsewhere officers arrest Shaheen at the flower market.

Later, a federal agent delivers $750,000 to Diana from an unnamed source she believes to be Jack, and offers Diana and Ed twenty-four hours of protection. In the motel room, Ed finally falls asleep, and Diana kisses him on the forehead. When Ed awakens, he finds Diana gone, and all money in his pocket. Thinking that she ripped him off, Ed searches for Diana, and she returns, smiling at him, and asking for a ride to the airport.