Plot

A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used-car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States.

Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads a double life. At work he is a government agent with a license to do just about anything, while at home he pretends to be a dull computer salesman. He is on the trail of stolen nuclear weapons that are in the hands of fanatic terrorists when something more important comes up. Harry finds his wife is seeing another man (Bill Paxton) because she needs some adventure in her life. Harry decides to give it to her, juggling pursuit of terrorists on one hand and an adventure for his wife on the other while showing he can Tango all at once.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

Leading a double life right under everyone's noses, Harry Tasker, a U.S. counter-terrorism agent with a licence to kill, is in for a big surprise when he becomes suspicious of his wife Helen's behaviour and loyalty. Now, as if trying to save the world from fanatical terrorists like dangerous faction leader Salim Abu Aziz weren't enough, Harry must also give his all to salvage what's left of his seemingly perfect marriage. But in this time-sensitive, white-knuckle double mission, there is no room for error. Can Harry's true lies save the day?—Nick Riganas

Secretly a spy but thought by his family to be a dull salesman, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is tracking down nuclear missiles in the possession of Islamic jihadist Aziz (Art Malik). Harry's mission is complicated when he realizes his neglected wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), is contemplating an affair with Simon (Bill Paxton), a used-car salesman who claims he's a spy. When Aziz kidnaps Harry and Helen, the secret agent must save the world and patch up his marriage at the same time.—FilmsNow

Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads a double life, performing covert missions for the United States Government under a counter-terrorism task force called "The Omega Sector". Albert "Gib" Gibson (Tom Arnold) and Faisil (Grant Heslov) assist him in these missions under the command of Spencer Trilby (Charlton Heston).

However, Harry's wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), and his daughter, Dana (Eliza Dushku), believe he is a boring computer salesman with Tektel Systems (the cover company for Omega Sector) doing a lot of "corporate" travel.

Harry's latest mission is in Lake Chapeau, Switzerland. Security guards screen cars for their official invitations for a black-tie event at a chateau. Other security guards armed with sub-machine guns and guard dogs patrol the grounds. Underwater in a canal that passes through the yard, Harry wearing scuba diving gear, cuts through the gate with a torch. He breaks through the ice on the other side of the gate with a large knife and removes his headgear, then sets a leather bag on the ice and gets out. Gib and Faisil are parked in a surveillance van across the lake. Harry removes his scuba gear, revealing a tuxedo, and puts on his gun. He then puts on a radio earpiece, then his coat, and then places a radio-controlled explosive device on a barrel of benzene.

Harry sneaks into the mansion through the service door. After passing through the kitchen, a cook confronts him in French. Harry responds in French, acting all important and criticizing the feast displayed on the table. He grabs a glass of wine and walks into the ballroom. Another woman, Juno Skinner, (Tia Carrere) greets Khaled (Marshall Manesh), then watches Harry as he checks her out. Harry ditches his drink and goes through the main foyer and to the second floor. He goes into the library then to the second-floor balcony. He climbs up the wall to the third floor, quietly breaks into the room there, hooks up a modem to a computer and transmits files to his partners in the van. Faisil begins Decrypting the files.

Back in the foyer, Harry pretends to examine some large sculptures on a desk, then sees some more security guards rushing upstairs. Juno tells Harry that she doesn't recognize him as one of Khaled's friends and has never met him before. Gib quickly does a background check revealing that Juno is an arts and antiquities dealer, specializing in Ancient Persian antiques.

A security guard discovers the break in the ice and alerts others on the radio of a breach. Security guards scramble outside, and Gib informs Harry. Harry sees the three security guards come downstairs, so he takes Juno to dance the tango. After the dance, Harry and Juno leave the ballroom, and she's impressed. Harry tells her that he has to leave because he has a plane to catch, and she gives him a business card from her dress top, telling him that her offices are in Rome. Gib makes a snide remark because Juno is smitten with Harry.

Harry is discovered by security and chase him across the yard as he runs to the van. When Harry finally reaches the van, he shoots down two more armed men approaching on skis, and then gets in the van and they drive away. The team flies back to Washington, DC. Gib drives Harry home. Gib supplies him his real billfold and some items to support a supposed trip to Geneva, including a passport, ticket stub, a hotel bill, two postcards, house keys, and a souvenir Swiss village snow globe for Harry's daughter Dana. Gib finally gives Harry his wedding ring, and then drives away.

The next morning, while Harry and Helen get ready for work, they talk about his trip, which he had previously told her was a salesman convention. He continues the pretense, saying that his team was the hit of the show. Helen tells him that the plumber called, and it will cost $600. He says its OK and asks what she told the plumber. She jokes that she slept with the plumber and he will deduct $100. Harry tells her that it's good thinking and kisses her goodbye.

Gib strolls in through the unlocked front door, and after looking around, sets a pack of cigarettes on the fireplace mantle. The pack is actually a CCD video camera, which he aims at his own jacket on a chair. Dana's boyfriend rides up on his motorcycle. Gib gives a pair of sunglasses to Harry, which is actually the remote receiving unit for the video camera. In the glasses, Harry sees Dana swiping money from his jacket, but she runs outside quickly before Harry can talk to her, and she rides off with her boyfriend to school. Gib suggests that Dana is probably having sex with her boyfriend. Harry says that Dana wouldn't do that. Gib continues, saying that she could be stealing the money for an abortion or drugs.

Spencer Trilby rebukes Harry, calling the mission in Switzerland a total disaster. Harry tries to defend himself, and Gib and Faisil pitch in. Faisil produces evidence of $100 million Jamel Khaled transferred from a bank known as a terrorist front. He also says that 4 MIRV warheads (nuclear weapons) were smuggled out of Kazakhstan. Harry says that they think Khaled's group bought the nukes and will try to bring them to the United States. The mostly unimpressed Spencer tells them to produce hard evidence before terrorists try to detonate a nuke outside the White House. Gib and Faisil show Harry proof of a $2 million disbursement from Khaled to Juno Skinner. The team decides to send Harry to Juno's local offices in Washington D.C.

At Juno's offices, Harry resumes the Harry Renquist alias, now claiming to be the representative for a corporate art consulting company in San Francisco. Harry pretends that he's buying something for some clients. He also claims that other art dealers and archaeologists don't like her very much. She replies that it's because she uses her diplomatic contacts to export items from countries that would rather not sell. The entire time, Harry is observed from across the room by Juno's employer Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik). Juno tells Harry that most of their items come from ancient Persia, which is buried deep under sand in Iran, Iraq, and Syria -- making them hard to obtain. As a result, she has had to become an expert in international diplomacy. Back at Harry's suite at the Marquis Hotel, where they set up a fake office, Gib tells Harry that Juno could be moving money, guns, or other dangerous items.

The mission reveals the existence of an Islamic terrorist organization group known as the Crimson Jihad, led by Salim Abu Aziz. Aziz comes into Juno's office and slaps her. She tolerates this insult, since Aziz is paying her a lot of money to smuggle his nuclear warheads into the United States.

Helen calls Harry at his office at "Tektel Systems", the front organization for the Omega Sector. Helen tells Harry that she and Dana are preparing him a birthday party and hope he will be home by 8:00 at night. Harry and Gib notice a van following them, and Harry enters a mall.

Harry suspects that antiques dealer Juno Skinner (Tia Carrere) has ties to Aziz. Harry is chased by Aziz's men missing the birthday party that his wife and daughter have arranged for him. Harry apprehends 2 henchmen inside the mall's bathroom, but Aziz enters, sub-machine gun in hand. He opens fire on Harry, but Harry turns the henchman he just overpowered into a human shield who absorbs the bullets, then ducks for cover in the other side of the bathroom. As Aziz runs out of the bathroom he fires at Harry. While Harry chases after Aziz, Aziz reloads and runs into the mall.

The chase enters the Georgetown Park. Aziz flees by yanking a rider off a passing motorcycle, while Harry commandeers a mounted policeman's horse to give chase. Gib and Faisil catch up in the SUV and van and block Aziz's path, but he rides into a Marriott hotel with Harry close behind. Aziz rides into one of the glass elevators and takes a woman hostage. Harry takes another glass elevator and follows Aziz to the top floor balcony. Aziz rides through the glass barrier and jumps off the balcony, down into a swimming pool on the roof of an adjacent building across the street. Harry tries to follow him, but the horse balks.

When Gib drops Harry off, Helen is asleep at the table. The cake is still there, and balloons are all around. When Harry comes in, waking Helen, he apologizes to her. Harry accesses the database at work and identifies Aziz. The team informs Spencer that Aziz is a fanatical major terrorist, wanted for a large number of car bombings, and also responsible for bombing a cafe a year ago and a passenger plane prior to that. He is nicknamed the "Sand Spider" and has formed his own splinter faction called the "Crimson Jihad".

When Harry goes to Helen's office the next day to surprise her and take her to lunch, he overhears a conversation with her coworker about "Simon" (Bill Paxton), a man she is seeing, causing Harry to worry about their marriage.

Harry tells Gib to put wiretaps on his home phone and Helen's phone at her work. Harry reads the transcript of Helen's latest phone conversation with Simon. She has agreed to meet him for lunch tomorrow "at the same place", and he finished the conversation with "I need you." Using the Omega Sector's resources (including a GPS tracker and wireless microphone hidden in her purse), he tracks down Simon, who turns out to be a used car salesman posing as a spy to seduce Helen. Simon shows Helen a newspaper article about Harry's shootout with Aziz and tries to take credit for it.

Harry meets Simon at the car dealership. Simon is sure that Harry is interested in picking up women. He tells Harry that he still has to have an "angle". When they stop to eat, Simon tells Harry that he targets bored housewives and creates a fantasy of adventure and danger for them. Harry says that he couldn't lie like that. Harry asks about their husbands, and Simon replies, "If they took care of business, I'd be out of business." On the way back to the dealership, Harry asks Simon whom he's working on right now. Simon describes Helen, an "uptight conservative" legal secretary, married to a boring jerk, who has an incredible body and breasts that "make you want to stand up and beg for buttermilk. Ass like a 10-year-old boy."

Harry reads the transcript of Simon's call with Helen; the camera shows Simon talking on the phone with Helen. They agree to meet on K Street under the Key Bridge at 8:00. Simon picks up Helen with the Corvette, and then as he drives, he tells her to put her head down until they get out of the city. Simon parks the car at a run-down trailer park and tells her that his trailer is a safe house. They are followed by the Omega Sector team, led by Harry. Omega Sector agents cut open the end of the trailer, shining the helicopter's spotlight inside. Simon trips and falls on Helen. Harry, wearing a balaclava, sees Simon on his wife, and enraged, drags him outside and handcuffs him. After a struggle, Helen is handcuffed as well. The two then have hoods thrown over their heads and are loaded into the back of a van.

Helen is kidnapped by Harry's agency from Simon's trailer and left in a bare concrete interrogation room with a one-way mirror. Harry questions her using a voice distorter about her relationship with "Simon" and about their marriage. She says that she wanted to have adventure in her life for once since Harry never gave her that. Harry realizes his cover as a boring salesman was too convincing. Harry asks her if she slept with Simon, and she says no and starts crying.

He decides to spice up Helen's life to make her happy by giving her a choice: go on a "mission" or be sent to prison. She chooses the mission: to pose as a prostitute and plant a bug on the phone of an arms dealer named Boris. Meanwhile Harry and Gib take Simon to the top of a dam and prepare to execute him as he is a spy. Simon fearfully tells them again that he's not a spy, that he lies to sleep around with women, but does not score much. He then urinates himself out of fear, proving that he's not a spy. Harry and Gib leave him on top of the dam.

Gib calls Helen using a voice distorter and calls her "Doris". He tells her to go to the Hotel Marquis in exactly one hour and pick up an envelope marked "Doris" at the front desk. He tells her to wear something sexy. the envelope, which contains a phone number and an electronic bug. She calls the phone number and Gib (voice distorted) tells her to go to the suite and pose as a prostitute named Michelle. He tells her that a suspected arms dealer is waiting for her in the room. He finally tells her to plant the bug near the telephone by the plant before she leaves, otherwise the deal is off.

Before she has a chance to plant the bug, Harry (who poses as the arms dealer) insists that she dances for him. The sham is interrupted by Aziz's men who burst into the room, taking both of them hostage, and subsequently flown to the terrorist hideout somewhere in the Florida Keys.

Aziz reveals he possesses small nuclear warheads hidden inside antique statues shipped by Juno and plans to detonate one to demonstrate his power to the United States. Harry, under the effects of a truth serum, reveals his secret double life, much to Helen's shock. Harry then escapes, frees Helen and attacks the camp, trying to stop the planned detonation. While fighting Aziz's troops, Harry appears to die in an explosion. Helen is recaptured and is taken by Aziz, Juno, and the terrorists as they escape the island before a nuclear warhead is set to detonate and wipe out their camp and any evidence. Gib locates and rescues Harry using the GPS device in Helen's purse. Two U.S. Marine AV-8B Harrier jets are brought in to attack Aziz's convoy as they travel the Overseas Highway and Harry is able to rescue Helen, but Aziz evades capture.

Harry soon learns that Aziz has kidnapped their daughter, Dana, and with the remaining terrorists has taken over the top floor of an under-construction office building in downtown Miami. Harry commandeers a Harrier to rescue his daughter and stop them from detonating the remaining nuclear warhead. Dana steals the arming key-and pursued by Aziz-climbs up onto a crane at the top of the building. Harry eliminates a few of the terrorists with the Harrier's machine guns while the rest decide to escape by helicopter. Harry sees Dana climbing the rigging and persuades her into jumping onto the Harrier. Aziz follows Dana and attacks Harry while he tries to pull his daughter to safety. Aziz falls off the jet, but gets his backpack caught on an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile which Harry shoots at the terrorists' hovering helicopter, with Aziz still attached, killing them all.

A year later, the Tasker family is having dinner together. A phone call reveals that Helen now also works for Omega Sector. Harry and Helen then embark on a new mission together.