Thoracic surgeon Jack Connor rushes to the emergency room in Fairfax County, Virginia, for a former army buddy, Sid McCloud, who has been shot in the chest. Jack takes him to surgery and saves his life, but someone tries again to kill Sid the next morning. Sid tells Jack about a terrorist plot to assassinate the president. Soon the terrorists succeed in killing Sid, and they frame Jack for the murder. Jack must hide from the police, the FBI, and the terrorists as he tries to clear his name and to save the president. Only Sid's ex-wife, who was once a close friend, believes Jack. She helps him to hide and to search for the killers.