Upon discovering that his wife is having an affair, aerospace engineer and depressed insomniac Ed Okin drives to Los Angeles International Airport on his friend Herb's suggestion. There, he is surprised by a beautiful jewel smuggler, Diana, who lands on his car and begs him to drive her away from four Iranians who are chasing her. She persuades him to drive her to various locations, and he becomes embroiled in her predicament. After becoming increasingly exasperated with her demands, he discovers that Diana has smuggled priceless emeralds from the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's treasury into the country, and is being pursued by various assorted assailants, including the aforementioned agents of a criminal Iranian expatriate and a British hitman.