A group of bandits known as the 13 eagles are searching for their former leader Chi Min Sing (Ti Lung). Chi is trying to change his ways,on his travels he encounters a nameless wanderer (Fu Sheng) who helps him as he tries to take care of his former gang members who aren't happy that he's left them. Eagle Chief Yoh Xi-Hung (Ku Feng) is the leader of a group of bandits called the Iron Boat Clan. He recruits and raises orphans to be his personal army of ruthless killers -he calls his recruits "Eagles.". One such orphan, indoctrinated by Yoh Xi-Hung, is Chik Ming-sing (Ti Lung). In a series of reflections, we find that Chik was an orphan that was sold to the Iron Boat Clan at the age of seven; he soon becomes one of Chief Yoh's top killers as he relishes engaging opponents in combat whenever the bandits go on a raid. However, after one particularly rough heist, Chik is badly wounded in a solo fight with Golden Spear Tao De-biu. He escapes into the nearby woods and manages to hide his silver plaque among the fallen leaves just before falling unconscious- thus concealing his membership in the Iron Boat Clan. Chik is later found by a stranger and nursed back to health by his kind family. It is later revealed that this stranger is a police chief -Wang An- a sworn enemy of Yoh Xi-Hung and a target for termination. While recovering, Chik starts having second thoughts about his criminal lifestyle; he begins to realize that there is an alternative to his violent, murderous lifestyle. He learns that he can live a peaceful, nonviolent way of life with a wife and family if he so chooses.
In the present time, we learn that Chik is running from the Iron Boat Clan, following the death of Wang An- who saved him in the woods. As a result of the kindness he received from Wang An and his family, Chik betrays Yoh Xi-Hung and departs from the clan. Meanwhile, Yoh has ordered that Chik be found and brought back for punishment. Chik meets up with a stranger while on the run. The stranger, Cheuk Yi-fan (Alexander Fu), secretly carries hidden wrist knives and is obsessed with hunting down his enemies to revenge the murder of his wife and family at the hands of the Iron Boat Clan. Chik Ming-sing is suspicious of the mysterious Cheuk, even when Cheuk does not hesitate to help him kill the other Eagle Clan members who are chasing him for leaving the bandit clan.
Not knowing that Cheuk Yi-fan is the son of the family that Chik and the other Eagles robbed and murdered, Chik Ming-sing confesses his evil doings to him one evening. Chik reveals that he has vowed to change his ways after that incident and is looking to end the exploits of Eagle Chief Yoh and the entire bandit clan. Chik also reveals that he is searching for the husband of the woman he killed so that he can die at his hands to atone for his crimes.
Cheuk decides to accompany Chik to Eagle headquarters. Upon the arrival of the duo, Eagle Chief Yoh recognizes Cheuk and reveals his name and true intentions. When Chik asks Cheuk why he did not take his revenge earlier, Cheuk reveals that what he wanted to know the whole story, and that he and Chik should join forces to defeat their common enemy, Chief Yoh Xi-Hung.
Chik and Cheuk manage to eliminate the remaining underlings of the clan and set their efforts on killing Yoh Xi_hung. After a lengthy fight with both men, Yoh attempts to manipulate both fighters to turn on one another. The two heroes briefly scuffle with each other -with Chik concocting a scheme without Cheuk's knowledge. As the two men continue to fight each other, Chief Yoh helps to contain Cheuk and holds his sleeve knives in order to provide Chik a chance to kill Cheuk. In a surprise move, Chik leaps up, lands upon the shoulders of Cheuk and plants his fighting sticks into the shoulders of Yoh. Cheuk follows by thrusting his double blades into Yoh's midsection. As Yoh Xi-Hung is dying, Chik tells him that it may be easy to raise someone but to win his heart is difficult; and because of this he now knows between right and wrong. Chik then uses his sticks to finish Yoh -ending the murderous reign of the Iron Boat Clan. With Chief Yoh dead, Chik tells Cheuk that he is ready to accept his punishment. Cheuk tells him that all his enemies are now dead and begins to walk away. Chik attacks Cheuk and forces the double blades into his body. He tells Cheuk that if he doesn't get his revenge now, then the spirit of his pregnant wife and unborn child would never know peace.
The final scene of the film show Cheuk looking over the graves where his family is laid to rest. A new headstone can be seen where Chik's remains have also been placed at the burial site.
