American military veteran Benjamin Ford (Robert De Niro) has fled to a cabin retreat somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, to forget the painful memories of the Bosnian War he fought in. One day, visitor Emil Kovac (John Travolta), a European tourist, knocks on his door, and the two men begin an unlikely friendship. When it develops that Kovac is in fact a former Serbian soldier bent on revenge, there begins a one-on-one confrontation and battle between the two throughout the harsh mountain environment.