| Director | Andrew Davis |
|---|---|
| Genre | crime film, film based on literature, thriller film |
| Runtime | 107 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $60 million |
| Box office | $128 million |
Wall Street trader Steven Taylor is married to the much younger Emily. Meanwhile, a smitten Emily is having an affair with artist David Shaw, for whom she considers leaving Steven. One day, Steven arrives at David's art studio. Steven not only knows about the affair, but has researched David's past. His real identity is Winston Lagrange, an ex-convict who cons rich women. Pointing out that he can easily send him back to prison, Steven recruits David into murdering Emily for $500,000, paying him $100,000 in advance.
Steven takes Emily's housekey and hides it outside the service entrance to their lavish Manhattan co-op apartment. David is to use the key to enter the apartment, kill her, and make it look like a robbery gone bad. At his weekly card game, Steven takes a break and uses his cellphone to make a call to an automated bank system, confirming his alibi, while using a second phone to call Emily. Emily answers in the kitchen and is attacked by a masked assailant, but stabs him in the neck with a meat thermometer. Steven returns and finds the assailant's body. He takes the key from the body, puts it back on Emily's keychain and damages the service entrance door with a screwdriver, which he plants on the assailant. The NYPD arrives, led by Detective Moe Karaman. They remove the assailant's mask, but the body is not David's.
The next day, Steven contacts David, who tells him that he hired someone he knows from his time in prison to commit the murder, as he didn't think he could do it.
Emily notices that the key on her ring does not fit the lock. Feeling suspicious, she confides in her friend that Steven would have inherited her whole $100 million fortune had she been killed. She quietly makes inquiries and learns that Steven's extremely risky margin trades on the stock market are unraveling. If he is unable to find enough money to cover the balance urgently, both Steven's finances and his credit will be completely wiped out. From Detective Karaman, Emily learns that no housekey was found on the assailant's body.
Soon after, Steven receives a call from David, who plays an audio tape of the two discussing the plan to kill Emily. They agree to meet at a local deli, where David demands the full $500,000 or he will turn Steven in.
Emily visits the assailant's apartment to check if the key on her ring fits the lock, which it does. When she confronts Steven, he explains that David is blackmailing them and he's been paying him off to stop seeing Emily. When he saw her dead assailant in their kitchen, he assumed it was David, who had threatened to use violence before, and took the key from his pocket to shield Emily from facing murder charges. Steven insists that they are not to call the police as he has tampered with evidence.
Steven gives David the money, then follows him on an Amtrak train and kills him, taking the money and David's gun. As he dies, a laughing David reveals he mailed the tape to Emily via courier service. Steven rushes home and finds the mail still unopened. He hides the money, gun and audio tape in his safe before showering.
Emily asks Steven if they should change the locks, as she still hasn't found her key. Steven finds the key where he had hid it and tries to secretly plant it somewhere else, but is seen by Emily, who explains the assailant must have returned the key after he opened the door. She then reveals that she knows everything, having found the tape in the safe and listened to it while he showered. As she turns away, Steven attacks her, vowing she will only leave him dead. After a brief fight, Emily grabs David's gun from the safe and kills Steven. NYPD Detective Karaman later comforts a heartbroken Emily, telling her not to blame herself, as she had no choice but to kill Steven in self-defense.