Jack Casey (Kevin Bacon), a yuppie Wall Street commodities broker, has a really bad day and loses his entire fortune. Rather than start over, he decides to drop out and become a bicycle messenger. Riding the streets of San Francisco suits him just fine: He's got the freedom to choose his own routes, to move through the city as an anonymous observer. He meets people he likes, especially Terri (Jamie Gertz), a fellow free spirit. But Joe soon learns that all is not flowers and sunshine. The messengers are sometimes used as a low-cost, low risk drug delivery service. When Voodoo, a slime ball drug dealer played by Fishburne, starts using Terri to run his drugs, Jack vividly sees the dark side of street life.