A policeman is assigned by his superior officer to find and apprehend escaped convict Richard B. Riddick. Riddick was being transported onboard space transport vessel "Hunter-Gratzner", where a bounty hunter who captured him was escorting him to the penal colony "Slam City" and claim the bounty on his head. On its way, the "Hunter-Gratzner" was struck by a meteor shower and crashed on a desert planet.  A female bounty hunter hired by the the persuing policeman begins to suspect there is something more behind the "Hunter-Gratzner" incident.