After terrorists attack a bus in Brooklyn, a Broadway theater and FBI headquarters, FBI anti-terrorism expert Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) teams up with CIA agent Elise Kraft (Annette Bening) to investigate. Soon, martial law is declared in New York City, and General William Devereaux (Bruce Willis), a sadistic racist, is put in command. When Devereaux begins rounding up Arab-Americans and forcing them into a detention camp, Hubbard and Kraft must fight back in the name of freedom.