Novelist Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) is living with adventurer boyfriend Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) on his yacht. But she leaves when Omar (Spiros Focas), the head of a North African nation, asks her to visit his country and write about him. Jack intends to go on a pleasure cruise to Greece, but when he learns that Joan is a pawn in Omar's quest to polish his image and gain greater power, he partners with continent-hopping criminal Ralph (Danny DeVito) in a quest to free her.