A man finds out that he was brainwashed to kill an important government official.

Rick Harding is a former Marines officer, now working in the FBI as a chemical weapons designer. While packing up for the night, a group of armed soldiers led by wanted criminal Carlos Gruber, break into the FBI research lab. They steal large amounts of a newly created germ warfare chemical called Bromax-360, loosing two of their men in the process before escaping into the night.

Mutant snakes survived a terrorist attack on a government laboratory, and they now threaten the town of Santa Mira Springs, California. Seismic activity has brought snakes to the surface, where residents are being bitten. Victims can transmit the virus to healthy persons. The military puts the town under quarantine. Local physicians try to control the epidemic, while the military is primarily concerned with keeping the virus a secret.

When a law school dropout answers an advertisement to be a personal assistant he unknowingly signs on to work for a belligerent has-been magician struggling to resurrect his career. This leads to a journey across the country staging the comeback of a lifetime.