The movie starts with a conversation between a young boy named Sean Donovan and his lovely
mother, Mary Donovan.
The story then shifts to a gripping scene, where young Sean Donovan and his father witness
a horrific carjacking, with his mother's tragic demise unfolding before his eyes.
Ten years later, the haunting image of his mother's head being blown off by a bullet
continues to affect his life, shaping him into a serious person who doesn't feel like
making friends, even throughout his high school years.
The impact of that incident has made him hypersensitive to violence,
unable to oversee even minor instances like a senior ragging a freshman, or he will go crazy.
In order to soothe his nerves, he discreetly takes medications concealed within his bandage
container, allowing him to keep them hidden from his father.
Despite his internal battles, he consistently excels academically, delving into subjects
beyond his syllabus, such as chemistry.
However, when his father, Terry Donovan, inquires about his academic performance, their conversation
lacks interest.
This behavior stems from their strained relationship, which feels more like that of strangers than
father and son since the death of the mother.
Despite Terry's attempts to bring normalcy into Sean's life, he has been unsuccessful so far.
One day, as Terry pays a visit to his wife's resting place, he apologizes to his wife for
not visiting for a while.
He tells his wife that Sean has made a new friend, and intends to attend a party with him.
Witnessing his son gradually reemerge into life, Terry experiences a sense of satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Sean boards the train, and suddenly experiences a vivid childhood flashback.
During those difficult times when his alcoholic father Terry would subject him to beatings,
his mother Mary became his pillar of support.
She would accompany him to his music classes, providing a much-needed distraction from their
abusive environment.
Back to the present day, as Sean strolls past a park, he becomes a witness to a drug-addicted
woman pleading with her dealer for more time to pay for the drugs she got from him.
Once the woman departs, Sean catches the attention of the dealers, Tony and Stretch, who notice
him standing nearby.
When the mobsters start to threaten Sean, the boy suddenly accuses Tony of being responsible
for a child's murder.
Hearing this, Tony loses control and unleashes a violent assault on Sean.
Here our once quiet kid shows who he really is, and starts to fight back, defending not
only himself, but also the memory of the deceased child.
He manages to wrest control of Tony's pistol, and in a stunning twist of events, he shoots him.
The focus of the film then shifts to Teresa Ames, a police officer coping with personal
difficulties like her persistent ex-husband’s intrusive calls regarding their son.
On top of that, she is tasked with a crucial case involving Larry Childs, a drug dealer
convicted of murdering two people.
Despite her diligent efforts, the court hearing for Larry's case is unexpectedly postponed,
granting his lawyer more time to pursue his release.
Teresa's exceptional track record in the anticrime and narcotics unit leads her promotion to
the homicide unit, where she will work with her colleague, Gary.
Coincidentally, within the same unit, Officer Bill Baldwin is present, someone whom Sean
has known for a long time, and occasionally visits to use his computer.
As night falls and Teresa prepares to depart from the police station, she stumbles upon
Sean, who is using the printer without any supervision.
The boy reveals his connection to Officer Bill and then leaves the premises.
Piqued by curiosity, Teresa examines the printout left behind by Sean, and discovers the unfamiliar term
"Tricelaron" written on it.
Dismissing it, she returns to her car, only to find one of the tires punctured.
After witnessing her struggle, Sean steps in to lend a hand, sparking a conversation
about her ongoing case.
Sean knows Teresa from the news reports about Larry Child's trial, so he asks if the person
who did this will escape justice.
In response, Teresa admits it is out of her hand if Larry manages to make a deal.
Once the tire is repaired, Teresa kindly offers him a ride home, but Sean politely declines
the offer, opting to take the train instead.
The following morning, as Sean diligently practices his punches on the punching bag,
Terry joins him, offering guidance on how to strike with more force.
Despite Terry's earnest efforts to be a father figure in Sean's life, the haunting memories
of his abuse towards Mary and him continue to plague Sean's thoughts.
In one vivid flashback, a drunken Terry is seen engaging in a heated argument with his
wife over Sean's piano practice.
Mary bravely defends her son, pleading with Terry to spare the child from torment;
however, Terry's actions turn violent as he beats his wife,
and demands her silence if she wishes to continue living in his house.
Despite the passage of time, Sean continues to be haunted by the memories.
The plot thickens as Stretch, the drug dealer, files a report regarding the murder of Tony,
the man whom Sean killed, but there is no evidence.
Gary believes they shouldn't focus on the case due to Tony's involvement as a drug-dealing
pedophile, potentially making him a target for many, but Teresa remains unconvinced.
She then questions Gary about Sean, and she discovers that his mother got her head blown
off right in front of his face a decade ago.
Sean visits the police station daily with Bill's approval, and meticulously goes through
mugshots, desperately hoping to spot the face of the person responsible
in case he was apprehended for another crime.
Teresa then approaches Sean, offering assistance in uncovering the truth behind his mother's killer.
Initially resistant, Sean succumbs to Teresa's persistent appeal, and allows her involvement
in the case.
The scene then shifts to a hooker who is in her room, attempting to inform her drug-dealing
client, Joe, that she is sick and won't be available that night.
However, Joe reacts aggressively, forcefully breaking open the door and dragging the woman outside.
Witnessing this violence unfold, Sean suddenly shows up and intervenes to save the woman.
Both Sean and Joe sustain injuries during the confrontation, but unbeknownst to Joe,
Sean's involvement in helping Lizzy was not a random act of kindness, but a deliberate
choice because Sean had carefully selected Joe from the database to end his cruelty.
As Joe threatens him, Sean pulls out a pistol from his pocket, and shoots him in the chest,
killing him then and there.
The following day, Teresa and Gary arrive at the scene to investigate Joe's death, where
they are met by the hooker.
It is revealed that Joe had even been involved in the murder of a 13-year-old girl, but he
managed to escape conviction and secure his release.
The woman only tells the officers about Sean's black outfit, and refuses to share any further
details as she believes that God sent Sean to save her life.
While pondering over the case, Teresa arrives at a theory that the killer responsible for
Tony's murder might be the same individual who ended Joe's life.
Teresa and Gary then visit the morgue to ascertain if the bullet recovered
from Joe matches the one retrieved from Tony's body.
Here Teresa is struck by a sudden realization that Joe might be the same individual Sean
was searching for the day prior.
She then queries Dr Coroner about Triceleron, the word she had glimpsed on the paper printed by Sean.
The doctor and his assistant then confirm that Triceleron is a poisonous substance capable
of triggering a severe reaction in the esophagus, leading to swelling and suffocation within
one's own body.
Dr Coroner finally confirms that the bullet recovered from both victims matches, proving
that the same person is responsible for both murders.
To get close to Sean and assess him further, Teresa extends an invitation for lunch.
Engaging in conversation about her personal life, she takes him to a Chinese restaurant,
where a couple is seen hurling abusive remarks in Chinese.
Much to their surprise, Sean reveals his fluency in Chinese, and sternly warns the couple.
Here Teresa learns that Sean’s mother had encouraged him to master multiple languages.
As the topic shifts to Sean's mother, Teresa suddenly informs him that her case appears
to be a random carjacking with no leads to pursue, and advises Sean to move on with his
life and embrace a normal teenage existence.
Frustrated, Sean questions Teresa about what she would do if he knew the identity of the
murderer, and so, Teresa emphasizes the importance of due process and the need for evidence before
charging someone with a crime.
This only further enrages Sean, as he highlights the flaws within the system, and the injustice
of a criminal like Larry Childs evading punishment due to these shortcomings.
Later that night, while Teresa and Gary are at Bill Baldwin’s retirement party, Teresa
keeps making connections between Tony and Joe's cases, pointing out that both men killed
someone and got away with it.
Teresa then approaches Bill to inquire about Sean, but to her surprise, Bill responds rudely,
accusing her of following them.
He instructs her to leave Sean alone and allow him to resume his life.
As the colleagues board a train home, a Chinese woman suddenly requests assistance from the
officers to stop a fight between two men.
We go back a few minutes before the complaint, when a drug addict boards the same train and
begins harassing a woman.
Sean, seated in the same cabin, discreetly applies a black substance to his face.
He then instructs a Chinese boy to escort his mother out of the train, as he doesn’t
want the kid to see what's going to happen.
Just then, a confrontation with the drug addict leads to a physical altercation.
This insane boy gains the upper hand against the drug addict, while the Chinese woman reports
the fight to the train officers.
They catch sight of Sean wearing a black outfit, but they don’t recognize him.
Teresa makes an attempt to apprehend the boy, but Sean manages to escape.
Afterwards, Teresa receives information from one of the officers that the attacker spoke
Chinese to the boy, asking the kid and his mother to leave, before initiating the fight.
This revelation leads to Sean becoming a suspect in Teresa's investigation.
The following day, Sean wakes up only to find Teresa arresting him, but it turns out to
be a dream.
It turns out that day is Sean's birthday, so Terry takes him to his mother's favorite
restaurant for some cake to celebrate.
Unexpectedly, they encounter Terry's old friend, Erin, who instantly recognizes him as "Rock,"
a nickname from his boxing days.
Now that Erin is the restaurant's owner, she tells Terry that she still has some old photos
of Terry and his friends in the back.
The woman keeps Sean company, and when asked, explains where the nickname came from.
She also reveals that ten years ago, Terry was an alcoholic who befriended some bad guys
and frequently got into street fights.
In a hurry, Terry apologizes for cutting their reunion short, and leaves his contact information
for Erin to have a meetup sometime again.
He leaves the restaurant only to take Sean to a boxing match, and spends quality time
with his son after a long time.
As a final surprise, Terry takes him to the street, where Mary tragically lost her life,
and helps Sean understand that he should forget the past and embrace his life.
He apologizes to Sean for the suffering his addiction and violent nature have caused;
he acknowledges that he cannot change the past, but promises to support and care for
his son from now on.
The next day, Teresa visits Bill's house, and demands an explanation about Sean.
Reluctantly, Bill invites her inside, and reveals the truth about that fateful night.
Bill explains that Sean was so traumatized after the tragedy, that he couldn't express
his emotions through tears or screams.
When Bill showed Sean the mugshot lineup, Sean immediately recognized a person, but
when they showed the photo to his father, Terry dismissed his claims, denying any knowledge.
The father then lectured the son about the consequences of his action, and when Sean
took another look at the photo, he said he made a mistake and his father was right.
Sean remained silent about that night, until he recently saw the criminal's photo again
in the news.
He still firmly believes his mother's murderer is Larry Childs, the same man Teresa is determined
to bring to justice.
Later that day, Sean approaches Teresa, and expresses his gratitude for her support, revealing
his determination to move forward with his life.
With these words, he leaves with a friend to attend a party.
Meanwhile, Teresa, unwilling to let go of the case, follows him to the party and waits outside.
There, she learns from Gary that Larry Child has struck a deal with the district attorney.
He only faces a two-year prison sentence, followed by entry into witness protection,
effectively evading punishment for his string of murders.
Inside the party, Sean experiences a flashback of Larry Child referring to his father as
"Rock" on the night of the incident.
Realizing that only Terry's friends use that name, he senses something isn't right.
Suddenly, another act of violence captures his attention; it is the bully from his school.
Since he finds this kind of behavior intolerable, he goes completely insane again, and savagely
beats the bully who has been harassing a female friend.
Then, after being stopped by his friend, Sean rushes to Erin’s restaurant, while Teresa
gets ready to follow him.
On his way, he is still haunted by the echoes of Larry's voice and revisits the haunting
memory of that night, when Terry abruptly halted the car in the darkness.
The incident occurred after someone rear-ended their vehicle.
It was Larry Child who had confronted Terry, and he said something to Terry, before approaching
Mary and tragically taking her life with a gunshot.
The puzzle pieces start to fit together in Sean's mind, and he even breaks into Erin's
restaurant, but by the time Teresa arrives, he has already left.
As she moves deeper inside the restaurant, she stumbles upon some old photos of Terry
and Larry Childs together.
Meanwhile, as Terry arrives at his house, he notices that his house has been messed
up, and he immediately contacts the police, reporting a break-in.
During his investigation, he enters the basement, and discovers Sean sitting in there, heavily intoxicated.
At this moment, Sean suddenly bursts out, and says that he remembers when Terry was
drunk all the time and used to beat him and his mother.
He then retrieves a gun, and accuses his father of conspiring with Larry Childs to murder
his mother.
He believes Terry orchestrated the crime to claim her life insurance money, and use it
to get out of the slums he was living in and maybe pay off his debts.
In a tense turn of events, Terry manages to overpower Sean, and he admits to knowing Larry
Childs, but insists that Sean must have misunderstood the events of that night.
Sean keeps insisting that the murderer called Terry "Rock," but Terry is adamant in his
denial as he tries to reassure his son.
Consumed by disbelief, Sean points the gun at his father's chest,
and tragically ends his life for his crime.
As Teresa confronts Sean, he claims that Terry hired Larry Childs to kill his mother, while
the gun remains on the table.
In a moment of decision, Sean pleads with Teresa for assistance.
Realizing that not all justice can be obtained through the court's legal process, Teresa
ultimately decides to dispose of the murder weapon in the river.
Sometime later, Sean composes a letter addressed to Larry Childs, who is currently serving
his two-year sentence.
Instead of harboring anger, Sean offers forgiveness, aiming to ease the burden of guilt Larry carries
from his victims' screams that haunt him daily.
All he wants to know now is the truth regarding his father's involvement in the murder so
that this can ease Sean's pain, and he has provided two stamps and a return envelope.
In a simple instruction, he asks Larry to use a black stamp if his father is guilty,
and a red stamp if he is innocent.
But it's clear that Larry is a scumbag, and isn't going to give Sean any satisfaction.
He lies to Sean by sending the letter back to the boy with a red stamp, which, to our
surprise, Sean already knew someone like him would do.
It turns out that Sean has laced the stamp glue with Tricelaron, and because of that
lethal chemical, Larry dies of swollen esophagus and suffocation.
At the end of the movie, we don't even find out if his dad is actually innocent, or if
Larry is just trying to mess with Sean's head.