In Los Angles, on the eve of Thanksgiving, the streets and freeways are always jammed. But this year the city will be plunged into unimaginable chaos and disorder by two single-minded and ruthless men. A criminal mastermind, Doc Simpson, has spent months planning the theft of priceless Van Gogh paintings from L.A.'s Modern Art Museum. He has assembled a hardened team of international criminals - resourceful, cunning and callous. Jed Foster, a young, passionate - and deranged - ecologist, is determined to demonstrate the destructiveness of motor vehicles by creating the world's biggest traffic jam. Jed succeeds - the city spirals out of control. Marauding bands of looters raid store after store; gangs fight other gangs and the police; major explosions ground police helicopters; ambulances and fire trucks can't get to where they're needed. As the anarchy peaks, Doc Simpson's team emerges from the Museum with their stolen paintings, to find their getaway barred by urban chaos. Jed cold-bloodedly escalates the turmoil and the robbers become ever more violent in preserving their stolen fortune. Without even being aware of it, the two men are battling each other. But through the choked streets, the fires, the rioters and looters, rides a CHP motorcycle cop - Mac McEwen. Ultimately it will be this unlikely hero - struggling to get the traffic moving, saving lives, stopping fights, and getting into shoot-outs with black and Hispanic gangs - who will finally confront Jed and Doc and destroy both of them and their criminal enterprises...