In 1996, psychopathic career criminal Simon Phoenix kidnaps a number of hostages, and takes refuge with his gang in an abandoned building. LAPD Sgt. John Spartan uses a thermal scan of the building; finding no trace of the hostages, he leads an unaut...

In 1996, psychopathic career criminal Simon Phoenix kidnaps a number of hostages, and takes refuge with his gang in an abandoned building. LAPD Sgt. John Spartan uses a thermal scan of the building; finding no trace of the hostages, he leads an unauthorized assault to capture Phoenix. Phoenix sets off a series of explosives that bring down the building, and the corpses of the hostages are found in the rubble; Phoenix claims Spartan knew about the hostages and attacked anyway, leading to the arrest of Spartan for manslaughter. He is incarcerated along with Phoenix in the city's new 'California Cryo-Penitentiary', where they are cryogenically frozen and exposed to subliminal rehabilitation techniques. During their incarceration, the 'Great Earthquake' of 2010 leads the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara to merge into a single metropolis under the name San Angeles. The city becomes a utopia run under the pseudo-pacifist guidance and control of the evangelistic Dr. Raymond Cocteau where human behavior is tightly controlled. In 2032, Phoenix is thawed for a parole hearing; he somehow has access codes to the security systems and murders the warden and several guards, steals a car, and escapes the prison. The police, having not dealt with violent crime for many years, are unable to handle Phoenix; after six officers fail to apprehend Phoenix, Cocteau verbally authorizes the police to employ all means at their disposal. Lieutenant Lenina Huxley suggests that Spartan, having caught Phoenix before, should be revived and reinstated to help them stop him again. Spartan is thawed and assigned to Huxley to help with his acclimation to the future, which he finds depressing and oppressive. Others on the police force find his behavior brutish and uncivilized, and Huxley, though fascinated by the lifestyles of the late 20th century, is disgusted when Spartan suggests kissing and sexual intercourse, acts which are taboo in the future due to the exchange of bodily fluids and risk of transmitting diseases.