Victor Argo

In 1991, a gang of thieves steal a rare $10 million gem. The gem was deposited into the bank's safe by an armored escort. The gang attacks the bank after the armored escort leaves. The gem was deposited in locker number 1798 and the gang only steals that particular gem. The gang exits the bank in under 2 minutes and set up an explosion in a van to create a distraction, while they escape in their getaway cars. In the process, two of the gang double cross their leader, Patrick Koster (Sean Bean) and take off with the precious stone. Ten years later, on the day before Thanksgiving, prominent private practice Manhattan child psychiatrist, Dr. Nathan R. Conrad (Michael Douglas), is invited by his friend and former colleague, Dr. Louis Sachs (Oliver Platt), to examine a disturbed young lady named Elisabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy) at the state sanatorium called the Bridgeview Psychiatric Hospital. Sachs says that Elisabeth is an 18-year-old girl who never hurt a fly but is suddenly acting very violent and aggressive. Elisabeth has injury marks on her wrists and puncture wounds on her arms and elbows indicating heavy drug use. In their first meeting Elisabeth responds by saying that Conrad wants what "they" wanted. This puzzles Conrad as he does not know what Elisabeth is talking about. Elisabeth promises to never tell anyone, forcing Conrad to leave and go back home. Meanwhile a woman in her 20s has been found dead in the New York's Hudson River. An autopsy reveals that her neck was snapped into 2 by human hands. Detective Sandra Cassidy finds similarity in this death with a body of a man found 2 days earlier. Having been released from prison on November 4, Patrick and the remaining gang members break into an apartment, which overviews Nathan's apartment, including his wife Aggie (Famke Janssen) and daughter Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak). Aggie has a plaster in her right leg and her mobility is severely restricted. That evening, Patrick kidnaps the psychiatrist's daughter as Conrad was busy having sex with his wife in the other room. Conrad finds that Jessie is missing (he finds that the chain to the front door of their apartment has been cut) when he cannot find her at breakfast time the following morning. When Conrad tries to call 911, he finds that the line has been hacked by Patrick. Patrick says that he has kidnapped Jessie as a means of forcing him to acquire a 6-digit number from Elisabeth's memory. Conrad realizes that the kidnappers can look directly into his apartment and probably have a camera installed inside the apartment itself. Conrad is given till 5 pm of that day to extract the number from Elisabeth. Conrad knows that they cannot call the police as their phone lines are tapped. As Conrad makes his way to the hospital, he finds a burner phone in his car. Patrick lets Conrad know that he is being kept under observation every step of the way. Conrad breaks into Sachs' office to go through Elisabeth's files. He figures out that her PTSD is real, when she saw her father killed in front of her eyes. He believes that Elisabeth is faking her symptoms as she wants to be inside the hospital as she believes that somebody is after her. She has been to 20 different hospitals in the last 10 years. This suggests that Elisabeth is a brilliant mind that could fool 20 trained doctors over such as long period of time. As Nathan visits Elisabeth, she is reluctant at first, but he gains her trust later - especially when he reveals his daughter was kidnapped and will be killed if he doesn't get the number they want. Dr. Sachs admits to Nathan that the gang who kidnapped Jessie also kidnapped his girlfriend to force him to acquire the number from Elisabeth. Louis Sachs is then visited by Detective Sandra Cassidy (Jennifer Esposito) who reveals to him that his girlfriend has been found dead. Meanwhile, Aggie hears Jessie's voice and realizes the kidnappers reside in the apartment nearby. The kidnappers send one of them to kill Aggie while the others take Jessie away. Aggie sets an ambush and kills the person sent to kill her. After Nathan takes Elisabeth out of the sanatorium, she begins to remember past events. It is revealed that Elisabeth's dad was a member of the gang that committed the robbery ten years ago and he double crossed them and took the stolen gem. However, other members of the gang later found him and ordered him to reveal where he had hidden the gem, pushing him in front of the train in the subway. The gang members were arrested immediately after that and Elisabeth escapes with her doll, where the gem was hidden. She also remembers that the required number, 815508, is the number of her father's grave at the Hart Island and her doll has been placed beside him in the coffin. She stowed away on a boat that was taking her father's coffin for burial in Potter's field on Hart Island, where the grave digger helped her put the doll, Mischka, inside. Nathan and Elisabeth steal a boat to reach Hart Island. The gang members track them down and demand that Nathan gives them the number they want. Elisabeth reveals the number and Patrick orders his companion to exhume her father's coffin. Patrick finds the doll and the gem hidden inside it. He then decides to kill Nathan and Elisabeth, but Detective Cassidy arrives before he can shoot them. Patrick's companion is shot by Cassidy, but Patrick manages to wound her. Taking advantage of the confusion, Nathan takes the gem from Patrick and throws it to a nearby excavation machine. Patrick goes to recover the gem, but Nathan triggers the mechanism which covers Patrick with earth, burying him alive. Nathan is then reunited with his wife and daughter, and it is implied that Elisabeth goes on to live with the Conrads.

On a wet rainy night in Chicago, police officer Sharon Pogue (Jennifer Lopez) is at the scene of a serious traffic accident holding the hand of one of the victims, pleading that he hold on and not give up. Sharon asks the victim to look into her eyes to maintain his focus and to prevent him from passing out. Soon, back up medical services arrive and the victim survives. One year later, Sharon is frustrated with the men she dates, and has become estranged from her family for having her father arrested for beating her mother Josephine (Sonia Braga). Her father Carl (Victor Argo) has disowned her for that, her brother is still mad about it. Her father and brother, Larry (Jeremy Sisto), have never forgiven her, and her anger is affecting her police work. Fighting other lawbreakers may be her way of proving she was right in the first place. Larry is married to Kathy (Monet Mazur) and has a son Larry Jr (Daniel Magder). Larry calls Sharon and informs her that Carl and Josephine are renewing their vows. There is party at their house and Sharon is invited to the same. Sharon is livid and confronts Josephine, her mother. She argues that Carl never hit her again, to which Sharon replies that perhaps he would have, if she hadn't acted. Robby (Terrence Howard) is Sharon's partner at work. Robby sees Sharon planting drugs in the car of a street punk, just so she could arrest him. And when he misbehaves with her and uses misogynist words, she knees him in the head. Robby is alarmed at Sharon's anger. A man named Catch (James Caviezel) wanders the streets of Chicago in a trance-like state, doing good deeds for strangers and neighbors. Catch turns off the headlights of a parked car, but the owner sees this and thinks that Catch was trying to steal the car. A single mother in his building wants to sleep with him, but Catch is oddly cold and distant when talking to her. One day he recognizes Sharon at a diner and watches her from across the street, and she notices him watching her. Just then a car pulls up and blasts the diner with machine gun fire, and Sharon and her partner chase after the criminals. Sharon catches up with one criminal and in the ensuing struggle, he gets her gun and shoots her twice in the chest. Seeing that she is protected by her bulletproof vest, he prepares to shoot her in the head, but Catch jumps the man and knocks the gun away, saving her life. That night, Sharon and Catch meet at a tavern and have a drink. A grateful Sharon tries to learn more about Catch, but he does not talk about himself. Sharon invites him to her apartment, and after some awkward moments between the two, they share a kiss. Catch abruptly stops and leaves the apartment, leaving Sharon confused. The next evening Sharon finds a dandelion taped to her mailbox with Catch's phone number. She calls and awkwardly invites him to breakfast at a coffee shop the next morning. When Sharon wakes up, she calls Catch and cancels their breakfast date. Catch is already at the coffee shop and never gets the message. Upset at being stood up, he goes to Sharon's apartment and criticizes her for not showing up for her "appointment", and then storms out. Sharon follows him to his nearly empty apartment. Surprised at the living conditions, she demands to know more about him, but Catch refuses to reveal anything. He only says that he is starting "from scratch". Following the advice of his mother-in-law, Catch calls Sharon and apologizes, and the two continue seeing each other. They go on a lakeside picnic in a state park and share a romantic swim, after which they make passionate love on the shore. In the coming days, Catch is there to comfort her after a family confrontation. His positive influence begins to show in her police work. One night they go to a blues club, and after the band has played a number, Catch notices a trumpet sitting on the bandstand. He picks up the trumpet and starts to play a soulful version of the tune "Nature Boy". As they're leaving, the owner approaches him, calling him "Steve Lambert", and asking where's he's been. Catch denies even knowing the man and walks away. The next day, Sharon investigates the name Steven Lambert in the police files and discovers that he is the man whose hand she held at the site of a traffic accident a year earlier, and that Catch's wife and child died in the accident. She goes to the house he abandoned after the accident and learns that he was a jazz musician and that the accident occurred on his son's birthday, causing Catch to create a mental block. Wanting to help Catch heal from his emotional wounds, she tries to talk to him about the accident and takes him to the cemetery to see the graves of his family, but he gets very upset and walks away. Sharon visits Elanora (Shirley Knight), who is actually Catch's former mother-in-law. Sharon is looking for some way of helping the man she loves. Elanora encourages patience, telling Sharon that Catch will find his way in his own time. At her parents' wedding vow renewal ceremony, Sharon tries talking to her father, but he tells her that he feels like he doesn't have a daughter. As Sharon starts to leave, she stops and tells the Videographer a wonderful story about her father playing with her and her brother when they were children. She is deeply moved by this memory. Her father overhears it and is also emotionally affected, but when Sharon looks at him, he turns away. Meanwhile, Catch finally goes to the cemetery and talks to his deceased wife and child, explaining how he remembers all the wonderful moments they shared. As Sharon leaves the reception, she sees Catch waiting by her car. They embrace and profess their love for each other. As they prepare to leave, Catch tells her that he'll drive.

Emotionally scarred from Vietnam, taxi driver Travis is increasingly disturbed by the underbelly of nighttime Manhattan and soon finds his thoughts turning towards violence.