When astronaut and Air Force Colonel Steve Austin is almost killed in a horrific plane crash, the US Government decides to rebuild him with experimental cybernetic parts which give him superhuman strength, speed, agility and the ability to see considerable distances. To pay the Government back the $6,000,000 it cost to rebuild him, Austin becomes a secret operative for the Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI), using his superpowers to investigate crime, espionage, space aliens and fight injustice wherever it is found.