Nikolai Petrovitch Radchenko is a Soviet Spetsnaz operative who is sent to an African country where Soviet, Czechoslovakian and Cuban forces are helping the government fight an anti-communist rebel movement. He is tasked with the mission to assassinate the rebel leader. In order to infiltrate the rebel movement and get within striking distance of his target, he gets arrested for disorderly conduct and is put in the same cell as a captured resistance commander. He gains his trust and facilitates an escape. Upon finally reaching the rebel encampment, however, he is met with distrust by the rebels. During the night he attempts to assassinate his target but does not succeed; the rebels have anticipated his actions. Disgraced and tortured by his Soviet commanding officers for failing his mission, he breaks out of the interrogation chamber and escapes to the desert, later to be found by native bushmen. He soon learns about them and their culture, and after receiving a ceremonial burn scar in the form of a scorpion, he rejoins the freedom fighters and leads an attack against the Soviet camp.