Simon Phoenix, a violent criminal cryogenically frozen in 1996, has escaped during a parole hearing in 2032 in the utopia of San Angeles. Police are incapable of dealing with his violent ways and turn to his captor, John Spartan, who had also been cryogenically frozen when wrongfully accused of killing 30 innocent people while apprehending Phoenix.

A rich brat (Alicia Silverstone) fakes her own kidnapping, but in the process ends up locked in the trunk of a car that gets stolen.