When Dr. Yuri Kuchenkov learns that his daughter has lung cancer, he desperately plans a way to raise money for treatments-by selling a nuclear suitcase bomb to an Islamic terrorist organization headed by a wealthy Jordanian businessman. The nuclear device is secreted inside a container and put aboard a ship headed for the Port of Newark. But CIA Agent Peter O'Brien learns only part of Kuchenkov's story before both O'Brien's informant and Kuchenkov are killed. Thinking that O'Brien knows about the plan to detonate the bomb near New York City, the CIA agent becomes the terrorist's next target. O'Brien manages to call his friend, New York Times journalist Hank Brennan, and desperately pleads for help.
Brennan embarks upon a reckless scheme that puts the life of the woman he loves at risk and brings him face-to-face with the terrorists, who will stop at nothing to fulfill their mission.