Plot
In Utah, Nancy Breyers (Kelly Lynch) is a defense lawyer who is inexplicably in love with client Michael Bosworth (Mickey Rourke), a sociopathic convict. During a break from a courtroom hearing, Nancy sneaks a gun to Bosworth. After Bosworth snaps a guard's neck, Bosworth and Nancy slip away.
Bosworth tears at Nancy's clothing and leaves her behind, where she will tell authorities Bosworth held her at gunpoint during his escape. He speeds off in a car with his brother Wally (Elias Koteas), and their partner, the hulking, half-witted Albert (David Morse), then changes cars with one Nancy has left for him in a remote location.
Needing a hideout until Nancy can catch up with them, the three settle on the home of decorated Vietnam veteran Tim Cornell (Anthony Hopkins) and Nora Cornell (Mimi Rogers), who have two kids -- 15-year-old May (Shawnee Smith) and her 8-year-old brother Zack (Danny Gerard). Their house with the "For Sale" sign is picked by Bosworth at random.
Tim and Nora are separated due to his infidelity with a younger woman. But when he shows up trying to reconcile with Nora, with whom he is still in love, the two of them find themselves the prisoners of the Bosworth brothers and Albert.
Nancy's innocent act does not fool FBI agent Brenda Chandler (Lindsay Crouse), who puts surveillance on her every move. Nancy eventually cuts a deal with Chandler to have charges against her reduced by betraying Bosworth.
A friend of the Cornells visits the house by chance, so Bosworth shoots him. An anxiety-ridden Albert decides to go off on his own, and is killed by FBI agents on a river bank.
The house is surrounded that night, and Wally is killed in a barrage of FBI bullets. Bosworth holds a gun on Nora and is prepared to use it if Tim interferes. He is unaware that Tim has removed the bullets. Tim drags the criminal outside, where Bosworth ignores the FBI's order to surrender, and is fatally shot.
Read more about this topic: Desperate Hours
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“The plot! The plot! What kind of plot could a poet possibly provide that is not surpassed by the thinking, feeling reader? Form alone is divine.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
““The plot thickens,” he said, as I entered.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
“Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.”
—Jane Rule (b. 1931)