Dalton is a professional "cooler", a specialized Bouncer (doorman), with a mysterious past who is enticed from his job at a club in New York City by Frank Tilghman to take over security at his club/bar, the Double Deuce, in Jasper, Missouri. Tilghman plans to invest substantial money into the club to enhance its image and needs a first-rate cooler to maintain stability.
D.E.A. agent Shane Tanner (Johnathon Schaech), is the son of a legendary cooler named James Dalton (played by Patrick Swayze in the original film). Nate Tanner (Will Patton) is Shane's uncle, and the owner of the Black Pelican, a bar located in Nate's new permanent town of Tyree, Louisiana. Nate gets a call from his rival, who's nicknamed "Wild Bill", the former Black Pelican owner who has been trying to get the bar back. Wild Bill asks Nate to meet him at a pier, supposedly to discuss a truce. Nate goes to the pier and gets ambushed and beat up badly by Wild Bill.