Ulterior Motives 1993

Erica Boswell Mary Page Keller is a New York reporter chasing a California lead about a businessman who may be secretly selling American aerospace technology to Japan, a story that collides with a public vote on a critical trade bill and the fear of fewer Japanese imports.

During her investigation, she meets Elizabeth Walthrop Ellen Crawford, who claims to work with the man, George Sakagami Hayward Nishioka. Elizabeth warns that Sakagami is due to meet a contact the next day, prompting Erica to gather evidence in a hands-on way. To capture solid proof, Erica hires private detective Jack Blaylock Thomas Ian Griffith to photograph the meeting, while she observes from a distance. They also break into the contact’s hotel room to photograph documents, but the moment is ruined when the supposed contact—likely a yakuza—returns just as they’re inside. The scramble ends with the destruction of the photos, leaving Erica to publish the story anyway.

Following the publication, Erica visits Sakagami’s home to interview him and discovers him dead, apparently by suicide. Yet the missing money from the exchange casts doubt on that theory, and when she asks about Elizabeth Walthrop, she’s told that no such person ever worked with Sakagami. The mystery deepens, and Erica hires Jack again to press the case. The pair grow closer, and their professional alliance blooms into romance, all while the shadow of powerful forces closes in.

Jack explains a legend he’s heard about lovers who truly connect across lifetimes, claiming that such pairs are destined to find each other again in the next life. He asks Erica to walk away from the case before they become more entangled, hinting at questions of fate versus danger.

Behind the scenes, Malcolm [Ken Howard], a slick public relations figure who acts as a pseudo-uncle to Elizabeth, orchestrates the Sakagami storyline to sway the trade bill vote and provoke a conflict with Japan that would benefit the United States. Elizabeth is revealed to be part of Malcolm’s scheme.

An evening visit to Malcolm’s office deepens the peril: Jack is ordered to kill Erica to remove her from the path of truth. Later, a rooftop confrontation seems to end in Erica’s death, but Jack intervenes and, after Malcolm’s departure, reveals that Erica’s death was faked using a cadaver and pigs’ blood. Erica survives, and Jack wonders aloud why he spared her life.

As Malcolm and Elizabeth close in, the couple race to locate the real documents. A four-person pursuit culminates in a tense standoff at the site where the records are kept. Jack shoots down Malcolm and Elizabeth, sparing Erica only long enough to offer a dangerous, hopeful invitation: to run away together. Erica refuses, choosing to publish everything she knows, even at the risk of her own safety. Jack accepts her decision with quiet resignation and steps away, vowing to “catch her on the next time around,” a line that underscores his belief that they may still find each other in another lifetime. In the end, Jack leaves, carrying the weight of their complicated bond and his enduring faith in their destined reunion.