Caroline Wallace is a top New Orleans PD hostage negotiator who has never failed to get every hostage out alive. This time, the hostages include the chief of police and the mayor. She's trying to negotiate with Reed Ware, a former coworker who left the force under investigation by Internal Affairs. When the SWAT team runs out of patience and launches an attack, Reed takes Caroline hostage and escapes with her in the chaos. Reed reveals to Caroline that he's uncovered corruption at the highest levels of the police department and city government, and those involved will stop at nothing to keep him from exposing what he knows.