父亲艾利即将被授予诺贝尔化学奖，巴克利却并未感到任何的自豪。巴克利的妈妈，著名精神病医师莎拉，却因艾利的成名而觉得被冷落。更令巴克利头痛的是，父亲肆无忌惮的挥霍也让全家被罪犯们盯上了梢。当艾利与莎拉闲适地到斯德哥尔摩度过二人世界时，准备博士论文的巴克利被绑架了。绑匪目标明确，索要两百万美元赎金---这正好是诺贝尔奖金数。出乎意料的是，艾利拒绝付款，还找来警察帮忙，在一连串调查后，警探发现整起绑票事件与巴克利的女友莎朗有着千丝万缕的联系，巴克利家隐藏的秘密逐渐浮出水面。。。

特伦斯·麦克多纳（尼古拉斯·凯奇饰）是新奥尔良一位忠于职守的警官，在新奥尔良被飓风与洪水席卷之时，麦克多纳从地下牢房里救出了一个就快被淹死的囚犯，这次英勇举动使麦克多纳获得了中尉的警衔，不过也给他的背部带来了一个永远没法恢复的创伤。疼痛不断发作的麦克多纳尝试了医生开的处方药来止痛，效果不佳，随后他就转向了毒品，越陷越深的麦克多纳开始付不起高额的毒资，于是他开始贪污赃款，沉迷赌博，脾气也开始变得暴躁，只能在做妓女的女友东妮弗（伊娃·门德斯饰）身上找到一丝慰藉，他已经与过去的那位受到大家尊敬的英雄渐行渐远。 一起灭门惨案发生，史蒂夫（方·基默饰）和麦克多纳一起调查这起案件，发现背后涉及一宗毒品交易，所有矛头都指向了绰号“大费特”（艾勒比饰）的毒枭。麦克多纳本已经不想为这起错综复杂的案件花费太多精力，但在调查的过程里，身体的痛楚与心底深处的正义又逐渐唤起了麦克多纳的良知，麦克多纳准备在病魔彻底摧垮自己之前，了结这桩案件……

Imogen and Al meet at college in New York City when she's a frosh and he's a sophomore. She's a talented artist; he wants to be a chef, following in his father's footsteps. They fall in love, she picks a song for them, they make love. But she fears losing her youth, committing too soon, having a child before she's ready. He's worried that this may be an illusion, not true love. She sleeps with someone else; he's hurt; the relationship ruptures. She leaves for San Francisco; he goes into an alcohol-assisted depression. He even drinks her shampoo, hoping to cure his obsession. Can anything help him recover?