New York police Detective Cristofuoro (Russell Crowe) comes out of semi-retirement to track a murderer he originally caught. When the 18-year-old Eric Poole (Jon Foster) is released from juvenile detention after serving three years for killing his parents, Cristofuoro is dead certain that Poole will kill again. Poole goes to live with his aunt Theresa (Laura Dern) and is strangely courted by a teenage runaway, Lori (Sophie Traub), who treats him like a celebrity and may have even witnessed his first crime. The detective, with his wife lying paralyzed in a hospital bed and exhibiting dangerously compulsive behavior himself, takes to the highway in a pursuit of Poole and Lori that leads straight to their inevitable confrontation.