Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a teacher living a small town with husband Hal (Tom Amandes) and daughter Caitlin (Yvonne Zima). But her life is far from happy - she has 'focal retrograde amnesia', which means she's lost her memory. She hires private eye Mitch Hennessey (Samuel L. Jackson) to investigate, hoping that her past will be revealed.
Director Renny Harlin was married to Geena Davis when the film was made. The premise was to reverse the convention of a leading action man with a female sidekick by creating a female action hero. Shane Black, the screenwriter of the Lethal Weapon series reportedly earned $4m for writing this screenplay.