A teenage murder witness finds himself pursued by twin assassins in the Montana wilderness with a survival expert tasked with protecting him -- and a forest fire threatening to consume them all.
Stationed in a lonely fire lookout tower in the heart of Montana's green wilderness, guilt-ridden Hannah Faber, a daredevil smoke-jumper having a death wish, is still struggling to cope with her emotional trauma after a disastrous failure of judgement. Then, as if that weren't enough, Hannah crosses paths with utterly unprepared Connor, the young son of the forensic accountant, Owen Casserly, and catches the attention of a highly trained pair of assassins bent on silencing the boy for good. Now, to prevent them from finishing the job, Hannah must put her sharp survival skills to good use and stop the killers, who would do everything in their power to cover their tracks--including setting the forest ablaze. Can Hannah and Connor escape from those who wish them dead?—Nick Riganas
Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie), a smoke-jumper (a person who is parachuted into the middle of forest fires from an airplane to douse them out), is struggling after failing to prevent the deaths of three young campers and a fellow smoke-jumper in a forest fire. She is now posted in a fire lookout tower in Park County, Montana.Hannah is in depression and tries to keep her spirits up by indulging in dangerous stunts involving smoke jumping.
Owen Casserly (Jake Weber), a forensic accountant, learns about the death of his district attorney boss and his family in an apparent gas explosion; believing that their deaths were actually a contracted killing and that he is the next target, Owen goes on the run with his son, Connor (Finn Little). He intends to seek refuge with his brother-in-law, Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal), a Deputy Sheriff. Owen calls Ethan and asks him to assemble a TV crew, as he wants to expose his evidence to the media. Hannah is Ethan's ex girlfriend, and Ethan is worried about her emotional state of mind.They are ambushed by the assassins "Jack" (Aidan Gillen) and "Patrick" (Nicholas Hoult). When Jack and Patrick reach Owen's house, he is already gone with his son. They hack into his computer and figure out that he has withdrawn $10000 in cash. They find pics of his brother-in-law who is a deputy sheriff and figure that Owen who have headed to him to seek refuge.The assassins force Owen & Connor off the road and down a cliff. Trapped in the car, Owen gives Connor the evidence against the assassins' employer. Connor flees before the assassins kill Owen.
As Ethan discovers Owen's car wreck, Hannah stumbles upon Connor while out on patrol. She takes him back to the tower to contact help. The assassins meet their boss, who instructs them to hunt down and kill Connor. The boss says that Jack should assume the worst case scenario, that Owen had copies of the evidence and which are now in possession of the boy. Jack tells Patrick from this point on they kill whoever sees their faces.As a diversion to preoccupy the police, they use flares to start a forest fire. They go to Ethan's house searching for Connor and find and interrogate Ethan's pregnant wife, Allison (Medina Senghore). When they force her to call Ethan, she gives him a duress code; she then fights off the assassins and escapes.
Hannah discovers that a lightning strike disabled the radio at the lookout tower. She attempts to take Connor into town on foot, but they are forced to turn back when the fire blocks their path. Following the radio call, Ethan returns home with the Sheriff (Boots Southerland), aiming to protect Allison. However, the assassins ambush them; they kill the Sheriff and force Ethan to guide them through the woods. Ethan is forced to comply as Jack bluffs that his 3rd colleague has Allison in his custody, and will kill her if Ethan does not comply.
The assassins arrive at Hannah's fire tower and force Ethan to search it as they observe from a tree. Hannah and Connor hide while Ethan attempts to make it appear as if the tower is empty. After Patrick sees that Ethan seems to be talking to someone, the assassins shoot up the tower. Ethan is injured, but Hannah and Connor manage to escape. The assassins try to follow them but are stopped when Allison, having tracked them down, starts shooting at them. Patrick and Jack split up, with Patrick pursuing Hannah and Connor while Jack stays behind to fight Allison; Allison gains the upper hand and kills Jack.
Connor runs ahead while Hannah fights Patrick but returns after Patrick threatens to beat Hannah to death. As Patrick is about to kill Connor, Hannah severely injures Patrick with a climbing ax and leaves him to burn to death in the approaching fire. Allison reunites with Ethan in the tower, but the fire traps them as they put on oxygen masks and hold each other. Hannah and Connor jump into a stream and watch from under the water as the fire engulfs the forest.
In the morning after the fire has burned out, Hannah's old smoke-jumping team arrives and rescues her, Connor, and Allison. Ethan has died from his gunshot wounds. Connor later prepares to give his father's evidence to the media. Hannah promises to help him through his uncertain future.
