While multi-millionaire Tom Mullen and his wife Kate attend a science fair, their son Sean is kidnapped. Sean is taken to an apartment by Maris, a caterer for the Mullens, along with criminals Clark, Cubby and Miles, and Detective Jimmy Shaker, Maris's boyfriend and the mastermind behind the kidnapping. Tom and Kate receive an e-mail from the kidnappers demanding $2,000,000. Tom calls the FBI, who begin operating from his New York City penthouse under Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins. In private, Tom voices his belief that a union machinist, Jackie Brown, who is in prison following one of Mullen's business scandals, may have been behind it. They visit Brown in prison, but he angrily denies any involvement with the kidnapping.