When she was a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita was rescued from death row and given a second chance by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division. What they didn't tell her was that she was being trained as a spy and assassin. Having escaped Division, Nikita is seeking retribution and will stop at nothing to expose and destroy their covert operation.
Nikita is a drug-addicted juvenile delinquent who was accused of killing a police officer in cold blood during an attempted robbery of a pharmacy. She is later arrested and sentenced to death by lethal injection, upon which she was secretly drugged by the government, faking her death. Nikita is then "recruited" by a secret government organization and transformed into a highly skilled assassin who cannot be traced.