Soon after his insufferably arrogant father (Alan Rickman) wins the Nobel Prize for chemistry, Barkley Michaelson (Bryan Greenberg) is kidnapped by Thaddeus James (Shawn Hatosy), a young genius who claims to be Barkley's illegitimate half-brother. Motivated not so much by money as revenge, Thaddeus tries to convince Barkley to help him carry out a multimillion-dollar extortion plot against their patriarch.