When rising floodwaters threaten Bayport, Texas, police chief Mark Shigata has two priorities - move his wife and daughter to higher ground, and make sure that all emergency services are ready. In the midst of the maelstrom, Shigata’s cousin, "Rocky" Omori, arrives with a strange request that Mark care for his four-year-old son. Rocky is a former member of the Yakuza, a Japanese crime family run by Buddy Yamagata - an organization that doesn’t take kindly to quitters. Mark had gone up against Yamagata as an F. B. I. agent in San Francisco. Now the entire muscle of the Yamagata organization is focused on a small Texas Gulf town. Shigata is racing against time - he must do what he can to save his family from the rising tide of churning water AND keep them safe from a ruthless, murderous enemy.