The polar circle at the beginning of the next millenium: the world is in a bad state because of pollution and war. Some unnamed government fights guerillas in the northern tundra, while gangs make the most out of the chaos. The worst of the gang-leaders is Jürgen, alias "Duke". They ride motorbikes and wear rather weird outfits, somewhere between medieval, north-westcoast Indian and Siberian shamans.
In the beginning of the film, an old shaman woman prophesies to Duke, that those, who he has betrayed, will take revenge and kill him. Duke is furious, as what he really wanted to know was, where the guerillas, whom he hunts, are hiding.
Next day, a traveling salesman "Dimitri" arrives in Duke's camp, where his men practice on their motorbikes. Dimitri only manages to get away unhurt by giving Duke some information on the guerillas. Some of the gang members find a man on the tundra, who is obviously an escaped prisoner, still handcuffed. The prisoner, Jake, also escapes the gang and meets Dimitri. After some quarelling, Dimitri frees Jake, gives him some clothes and points him in the direction of the next "town".
After an exhausting march, Jake reaches the town, which consists of tents, barracks, poison and rubbish and a bar. In the bar, Jake is soon joined by Duke and his company, including a girl, that they have caught somewhere on the tundra. Jake steals Duke's motorbike, which starts a wild chase cross country. Jake falls into some subterrenean shelter and so disappears from sight. Duke gives up the chase for the time being but puts a high reward on the head of the motorbike thief.
Jake has broken his leg. The old shaman woman and her mute servant Borka find him and take him back to their hut to look after him. Duke's gang are looking for the thief. Two of them arrive in disguise at the hut but are killed by Jake and the old woman. The woman prophesies again and tells Jake, that his task will be difficult but that one of the guerillas will join him and help.
Meanwhile Borka, who quite fancies alcohol, has gone off to the bar in town. As usual, Duke and his men arrive, they buy Borka alcohol but make fun of him. Although Borka is mute, he manages to convey to Duke, that the motorbike thief is the same as a wanted escaped prisoner. The play with Borka gets rough, when the old woman arrives to take him back home. She again predicts Duke's death and Duke shoots her in the bar, Borka takes her body back to the hut. On the way, he meets Dimitri, who helps him. Duke tells one of his sidekicks, Skunk, to lock up the girl. She outwits him and run away, and eventually also finds her way to the hut in the wilderness. Jake is meanwhile back on his feet and he and Dimitri repair the bike. In between we see Duke getting madder and madder, because his men fail to catch the motorbike thief or the girl.
The idyll at the hunt is somewhat disturbed by Borka trying to rape the girl. Jake helps her and she ends up in his bed. She tells him, that she lost her memory, six months ago Duke and his men found her wandering on the tundra. Jake won't tell anything beyond that he had been in prison for five years, but later on we see part of his dream: he is a little boy, who sees his father being shot. Jake and the girl fall in love but he takes the bike and the gun and leaves her, refusing to tell, where he is going or why. He only promises to come back to the hut.
The girl won't stay, she follows him on foot but is caught by Duke's gang. Jake has gone to Duke's camp. From a distance, he watches Duke exchange dead guerillas against petrol and money with some soldiers. The leader of the soldiers can't quite suppress his disgust of having to deal with Duke. When they have left, Jake kills one of the camp's guards, puts on his clothes and surprises Duke. Jake doesn't kill him right away but reveals, that Duke was the man who killed his father but the little boy gave Duke a bad cut on his head, causing the scar that he still wears. And now, the little boy is going to take revenge.
In this moment, the gang bring in the girl. Duke uses the confusion and takes Jake's gun. Now his sidekick is going to fight Jake and kill him for Duke. In the last minute, Dimitri arrives and stops the fight. Duke takes the girl hostage, but is shot by Borka, who has somehow managed to get into the camp unnoticed. Without their leader, the rest of the gang flee. Jake and the girl join the guerillas.