British newspaper columnist Simon Boyd (Irons) loses his novelist wife (McGovern) and two of his three children during an airplane hijacking. With authorities unwilling to compensate Boyd for his loss, he is encouraged by a shady U.S. diplomat (Pristley) to look for alternative ways to seek justice. When the hijackers are quietly released due to under-the-table politics, Boyd snaps and uses his skills as an investigative reporter to track down and take out his family's killers.