乔(华金·菲尼克斯 Joaquin Phoenix 饰)有着非常悲惨的过去,他的父亲是一个暴力狂,总是无端对乔和他的母亲(朱迪思·罗伯茨 Judith Roberts 饰)施以拳脚。如今,乔和母亲过着相依为命的生活,有过参军经历的他在退伍之后成为了联邦调查局的探员,之后又开始干杀手的勾当,“经纪人”约翰(约翰·道曼 John Doman 饰)打理着涉及到乔工作的方方面面。 某日,一位州参议员找到了乔,希望他能够去拯救他的女儿妮娜(叶卡特琳娜·萨姆索诺夫 Ekaterina Samsonov 饰)。刚开始,乔只把它当做是一个寻常的任务,但随着时间的推移,乔渐渐在其中发现了猫腻,并且开始怀疑起了州参议员的真正动机。Balancing between feverish dreamlike hallucinations of a tormented past and a grim disoriented reality, the grizzled Joe--a traumatised Gulf War veteran and now an unflinching hired gun who lives with his frail elderly mother--has just finished successfully yet another job. With an infernal reputation of being a brutal man of results, the specialised in recovering missing teens enforcer will embark on a blood-drenched rescue mission, when Nina, the innocent 13-year-old daughter of an ambitious New York senator, never returns home. But amidst half-baked leads and a desperate desire to shake off his shoulders the heavy burden of a personal hell, Joe's frenzied plummet into the depths of Tartarus is inevitable, and every step Joe takes to flee the pain, brings him closer to the horrors of insanity. In the end, what is real, and what is a dream? Can there be a new chapter in Joe's life when he keeps running around in circles?