Dexter Cornell (Quaid) is a Texas college literature professor with a lot on his mind: the combined stress of helping his friend Hal (Stern), a pending divorce from his wife Gail (Kaczmarek), the unseasonably hot Christmas weather, and the recent suicide of a promising student leads him to a night of heavy drinking at the local bars. Unfortunately, this will turn out to be his last night out: the next morning, a suspicion that the discomfort he feels is more than a hangover sends him to the university medical clinic, where tests show that he’s been poisoned with a slow-acting toxin and it’s already been absorbed into his body, leaving him with 36 hours to live.
With the aid of admiring student Sydney Fuller (Ryan), Dexter uses his last hours retracing his steps on the fateful night, in a desperate bid to find out who killed him and why, leading to an uncovering of skeletons in the closet of a rich widow (Rampling), a body count, and an unthinkable betrayal…
D.O.A. contains examples of the following tropes:
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Hal appears to be a genial, humble friend to Dexter, but is shown in The Reveal to be capable of murder in order to overcome writer’s block and achieve tenure.
- Bittersweet Ending: Dexter will soon succumb to the poison, but he has made Hal pay for his crimes.
- Chained Heat: Dexter kidnaps Sydney in a variation of this, supergluing his hand to her arm.
- Destination Defenestration: Hal flies out the office window after Dexter shoots him.
- Nail 'Em: Dexter and Sydney are attacked at one point by an assailant wielding a pneumatic nail gun.
- Your Days Are Numbered: The driving point of the plot: Dexter has been slipped a slow-acting poison and has 36 hours left to live.
