How far would you go to protect your child? Keller Dover (Jackman) is facing every parent’s worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) arrests its driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), but a lack of evidence forces the only suspect’s release.
Knowing his child’s life is at stake, the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. The desperate father will do whatever it takes to find the girls, but in doing so, he may lose himself, begging the question: When do you cross the line between seeking justice and becoming a vigilante?
In the rural New England town of Brockton, Massachusetts, neighbors and friends the Dovers and the Birches gather for Thanksgiving dinner, but by the end of the night, their celebration turns to panic when the families' two youngest daughters go missing. As the hours pass and the girls don't turn up, it becomes terrifyingly apparent they've been kidnapped. After the cops fail to find them, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) decides to take the law into his own hands, running up against dedicated Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal). But even as Loki is diligently working against the clock to solve the case, Keller will stop at nothing to get their prime suspect to talk before it's too late.