- The film describes the events leading up to, and including, the massacre of the adults of a small town in Nebraska by their children, after the adults' irresponsibility ruins the crop and the children's future.
- Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) is a police detective who transfers from Atlanta to Los Angeles to head up a special unit of the LAPD that handles sensitive, high-profile murder cases. Despite a tendency to step on people's toes, Johnson manages to convert even her strongest adversaries wit…