Mainland triad kingpin Ma Man-ho (Lau Siu-ming) dabbles in just about every illegal activity but draws the line at drugs, much to the annoyance of his nephew, Tony (Mark Dacascos), who is anxious to tap into the huge China market with American partner Coolio (played by the like-named rapper). While attending a Shanghai fashion show, Ma's brother-in-law is murdered and the crimelord's guest, the beautiful Norika (Japanese superstar Norika Fujiwara), removes a computer disk from the corpse. She is seen and pursued by local policeman Alex Cheung (Wang Leehom), while fellow cop Darren Tong (Aaron Kwok Fu-sing) takes off after the killer. Neither officer is successful at apprehending their quarry and, when the two cops participate in a smuggling bust soon afterwards, Tony is able elude them after an extended chase through traffic. While Alex is off proposing to girlfriend Ruby (Ruby Lin Hsin-ru), Darren decides to return to the scene of the crime. Re-examining some old cars that his associates searched, he discovers a large quantity of drugs secured inside one of the vehicles. High ranking officer Lin (Paul Chun Pui, billed here as Paul Chiang) has a long history with Ma and knows that if narcotics are now being smuggled into the area, it is being done without the man's knowledge or approval. Norika approaches Tony and Coolio with an item of interest: the disk she took, which contains a list of everyone on Ma's payroll (a potential plot thread that is soon forgotten). She also proposes a partnership. Tired of his uncle's interference in his plans, Tony kills the old man but the police discover Norika beside the body and take her into custody. Her back against the wall, the woman reveals that she is with Japanese Interpol and seeks to arrest Coolio for the murder of her partner three years earlier. The three team up to put a stop to Tony and Coolio's master plan: smuggling drugs inside basketball-sized steel balls that flow through an oil pipeline, allowing the illicit cargo to travel from ship to shore unseen.