美國加州的聖佩雷羅港一艘貨輪爆炸，死亡27人，9000萬美元失蹤。事故發生以后，聯邦調查局探員白基奇在醫院等待昏迷不醒的幸存者；海關特派員大衛（查茲•帕明特裡 飾）則對另外一名拿到特赦令的幸存者金特（凱文•史派西 飾）進行了審問。金特供認，在事故中喪生的基頓（加布裡埃爾•伯恩 飾）、法特（本尼西奧•德托羅 飾）、麥曼諾（斯蒂芬•鮑爾文 飾）和杜學尼（凱文•波拉克 飾），以及他本人，六個月前被警察局作為卡車搶劫案的疑犯帶到警局過了一夜，五人因此結成了一個犯罪團伙，狼狽為奸……

A man with an asthmatic voice telephones and assaults clerk Kelly Sherwood at home and coerces her into helping him steal a large sum from her bank.

After his wife and her blind sister have died under his care, a doctor's small daughter is kidnapped and reported as buried alive, and he is given just five hours to find and rescue her.