The fate of planet Earth hangs in the balance in this cinematic adaptation of the famous comic strip, set in 1930s-era New York, where a Tibetan mystic tutors reformed criminal Lamont Cranston (Alec Baldwin) in the ancient arts of mind control. Helped by his cab driver sidekick (played by Peter Boyle), the Shadow leads a double life, playing a debauched playboy during the day and Crime FIghter by night, engaged in mortal combat with the last living descendent of Genghis Khan.