A sunken treasure that upstate farmer/fisherman Virgil Cain accidentally hooks brings him nothing but harassment, fisticuffs and murder. Ever since a drug dealer named Parson tossed it overboard minutes before his Chris-Craft was boarded by police officers who'd been tipped off, a stainless steel capsule containing 100 pounds of primo Colombian cocaine has been waiting at the bottom of the Hudson for someone to hook it. The lucky winner is Virgil, but he doesn't feel lucky. Before he can so much as open the sealed container to see what's inside, it's confiscated, along with his boat, by Detective Dick Hoffman, who puts in his retirement papers the following day. When Hoffman's former colleagues at the Albany PD disclaim any knowledge of Virgil's discovery, the unlucky finder, who senses that he isn't going to get his boat back anytime soon, sets about tracking down Hoffman on his own.