Expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman (Samuel L. Jackson) has just become a hostage-taker. His world has been destroyed by false allegations of murder and embezzlement. His hostage gambit is carefully orchestrated because he knows that people listen when lives are at stake.

Roman requests Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey), a respected negotiator from another precinct, be brought in to mediate the crisis. Sabian squares off with his formidable opponent, a man he knows only by reputation, as he attempts to understand and defuse the explosive situation.