This movie begins with airline owner Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson) hosting a party at his swank New York City apartment. The party is being held to unveil his latest commercial which gives background information on how Gibson became a self made multi-millionaire airline entrepreneur. Interspersed with the scene is another scene of people preparing what appears to be a kidnappers lair designed to hold a hostage.
The next scene shows Gibson with his wife Rene Russo and son Sean (Brawley Nolte) in central park attending a science fair that Russo is a judge of. During this scene Gibson's son Sean wanders away and although not shown, he is snatched and put in a white van. Russo and Gibson quickly realize their son is missing and frantically begin to search for him.
The next scene has them at their apartment, receiving a phone call telling them to check their e mail. Their e mail has a letter with a photo attachment of their son, blindfolded and chained to a bed (in the kidnapper lair we previously saw being made ready)
At this point Gibson calls in the FBI who quickly set up operations at the apartment. In the next scene we are introduced to Gary Sinise who plays a NYC detective. He is in a 7-11 type store conducting an investigation when he notices a suspicious character (Evan Lindler) coming into the store buying kid's cereal.
The next scene shows Sinise at the kidnapper's hideout, sneaking in. The viewer thinks great - case is solved. Sinise goes into Lindler's room and puts a gun to his head and chews him out for "being a well known neighborhood scum bag buying kid's cereal" which could tip off cops that something is up. Here the viewer first becomes aware that Sinise in addition to being a NYC cop - is not only involved in the kidnapping - he is running it.
Back to Gibson's house where he confesses to FBI agent Lonnie Hawkins (played by Delroy Lindo) that a former union head of the machinist union may have kidnapped his son. Gibson confides that he bribed the union president to call off a strike and the president went to jail while Gibson escaped prosecution. Lindo arranges a powerful jailhouse meeting between Gibson and the union leader in prison, but it is apparent from the meeting that the former union president had nothing to do with the kidnapping.
The next scene is a complicated ransom drop in which Gibson comes face to face with one of the kidnappers and makes the drop. But when the kidnapper fails to give an address where Sean can be picked up (as Sinise had told Gibson would happen), Gibson struggles for the ransom bag and FBI sharpshooters open fire killing the kidnapper (Evan Lindler).
The next scene shows a furious Gibson back at his home, blaming the FBI for killing the only known link to his son. The phone rings and it is Sinise again (his voice is always electronically scrambled whenever he talks to Gibson). Sinise is setting up another ransom drop. This time Gibson makes it clear - no tracking the money, no agents in the wings - he will go alone. On his way to the drop you can see a realization come over Gibson - he has a plan. Sinise calls again with more instructions and Gibson begins to take control - he says "turn on channel 5 - wait an hour". Gibson then walks onto the news set of a local channel and announces his plan. He will not pay the ransom - instead it will be a reward for information leading to the arrest or death of the kidnapper. The kidnapper's only chance to have the reward lifted - is to let his son go free.
Gibson goes back to his shocked wife and FBI agent Lindo, who have never heard of such a tactic. Gibson is able to convince his wife that this is the best strategy to get their son back. Gibson is convinced that based on what he experienced at the first drop - the kidnappers plan on killing Sean when they get paid.
Meanwhile back at the kidnap house, Sinise is losing control of his crew. He is struggling to get this Gibson character under control again. He figures he can get to the mother. By using a maid carrying Sean's shirt he gets Gibson's wife Russo to meet him at a church at 2AM without Gibson's knowledge. He approaches her from behind, beats her, and tells her it's her last chance and that if he isn't paid he will "gut her kid".
Coming back to her home Russo is obviously shaken up and her faith in Gibson's plan begins to falter. FBI agent Lindo plays on that, attempting to create a rift so that the ransom is paid - the course of action he thinks has the highest probability for safe recovery of Sean.
Gibson has other ideas - he goes out to the gathered media and ups the reward to 4 million dollars. Everyone is shocked. Sinise learns of this move and makes one final call. In a powerful 90 second scene the two men scream at each other, neither budging positions. Gibson asks for proof of life. Sinise allows Sean to speak the word "mommy" into the phone - Russo is on the extension, listening, she know's her son is still alive. Still Gibson refuses to pay. The threats escalate. Sinise says "I'll kill him right now", Gibson says you can't be that stupid, I will hunt you down the rest of your life, I'll have your head on a pike. The camera goes back to Sinise as he pulls out his gun, aims and fires. The next 60 seconds is reaction shots of all the major players. The viewer doesn't know if Sean is alive or dead. Finally after a minute the camera stops on Sean who is fine, Sinise has aimed at a wall.
From here the movie moves quickly. There is a heartbreaking scene between Gibson and Russo who think they have just heard their son being executed. Sinise leaves the kidnap house and come up with a plan. He goes back to the alley where the rest of the kidnappers are getting into a van and tells them "Stop NYC police" He then kills his former comrades and plants a gun on them to stage a shootout. He rushes into the house and see's Sean who has been blindfolded the entire time and not seen Sinise. Sinsise calls to his police buddies and announces he's rescued "that kidnapped kid". Gibson and Russo are notified and brought to the scene where they thank "hero cop" Sinise.
The final scene is 2 or 3 days later where Sinise shows up to collect the reward for killing the kidnappers. Gibson writes a check for him. Sean walks by the room where the business is being conducted and recognizes Sinise's voice as the man who held him captive. He loses control of his bladder which Gibson notices. Gibson at that point puts 2 and 2 together and realizes that the kidnapper is in his home - he needs to get him out as soon as possible. But since Sinise is a cop he also puts 2 and 2 together and realizes that Gibson is on to him. Incredibly another power struggle, reminiscent of their phone calls, ensues. Sinise's impulse to kill everyone in the house. Gibson says go ahead - makes no difference to me. If you leave with me though - we can go to the bank and I will wire you the money - just get out of my house. Sinise thinks he will be double crossed - Gibson says "you can kill us now and be on the run with whatever money is in your pocket, or you can go to the bank with me, let us live and be on the run with 4 million.
Sinise decides to go the banks and tells Gibson that he want's Gibson to personally fly him out of the country. Gibson makes a phone call to his maintenance people to fuel up the company jet - in actuality it is FBI agent Lindo whom he tells that he will be going to the bank first. Lindo asks "Is the kidnapper with you?" Gibson replies "absolutely"
In the final scene NYC cops and FBI agent converge on Gibson and Sinise, a nice street chase/fight erupts, Sinise is killed and the movie is over.
