Un home amenaça de suïcidar-se llançant-se al buit des de la cornisa d’un hotel. Arriben els curiosos i els bombers. S’activa tot el dispositiu mediàtic i morbós que comporten aquests esdeveniments. Però hi ha alguna cosa darrere d’aquesta posada en escena, la representació amaga una altra història...

Tom Mullen és el multimilionari propietari d'una empresa aèria. La seva plàcida i envejable vida s'enfonsa quan segresten el seu fill. A punt de fer efectiu el rescat per la llibertat del noi, una circumstància inesperada el farà canviar d'estratègia: decidirà fer servir en la negociació uns mètodes poc ortodoxos, malgrat l'oposició de l'FBI i de la seva dona. Remake de la pel·lícula "Rapto" de 1956, dirigida per Alex Segal i protagonitzada per Glenn Ford.

The police try to arrest expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman, who insists he's being framed for his partner's murder in what he believes is an elaborate conspiracy. Thinking there's evidence in the Internal Affairs offices that might clear him, he takes everyone in the office hostage and demands that another well-known negotiator be brought in to handle the situation and secretly investigate the conspiracy.

Carlos, a ruthless Spanish negotiation expert working in Brussels, is tasked with handling the kidnapping of a senior oil company executive in a troubled West African country —with which he has old and deep ties—, torn by ethnic tensions and government abuses.

When troubled teen boy Stevie (Cameron Van Hoy) and his girlfriend, Rocky (Mischa Barton), attempt to rob a bank without any forethought, the situation rapidly deteriorates. Soon the young couple is holding bank customers and employees hostage, while law enforcement gathers outside. Daniel Bender (Burt Reynolds), a veteran negotiator for the FBI, is charged with assessing the crime scene and ending the standoff as quickly as possible, but Stevie's short fuse considerably complicates matters.