When erudite black playwright Andrew Sterling (Samuel L. Jackson) moves to a predominantly white suburb, the buffoonish local police surround his home, assuming he's a burglar. To avoid a scandal, unscrupulous Chief Tolliver (Dabney Coleman) conscripts low-rent criminal Amos Odell (Nicolas Cage) to break in and take Sterling hostage. But Amos and Andrew soon realize Tolliver has no plans to let either survive, so they must put their differences aside and work together to get out alive.