| Director | Lance McDaniel, Michael Apted |
|---|---|
| Genre | action film, drama film |
| Runtime | 110 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $38 million |
| Box office | $51.8 million |
Slim is a waitress in a Los Angeles diner where she meets wealthy family man Mitch Hiller, who wards off a rude man trying to hit on her for a bet. They eventually marry, have a daughter named Gracie, and live happily in an expensive house.
Six years later, Slim discovers Mitch has been repeatedly cheating on her with seemingly no remorse whatsoever. When she threatens to leave, he beats and threatens her. Mitch insists that because he is the breadwinner, he can do whatever he likes, and he will not end his affair unless she wants to fight him. Mitch warns her not to leave, stating that he refuses to live without her.
Slim goes to Mitch's mother about the abuse. She consoles Slim briefly, but implies that she may have provoked Mitch's reaction, and that he has a history of abuse. Her best friend Ginny advises her to leave him and press charges, but the police cannot assist.
After Mitch taunts Slim, revealing he knows who she has been talking to and has been watching by proxy, Slim sees no choice but to take Gracie and leave. She enlists her friends' help and tries to escape with Gracie late at night, but Mitch foils the plan and beats Slim again while threatening her friends at gunpoint. Mitch is forced to let them escape after they wake up Gracie, as he is unwilling to expose his true nature in front of her.
Mitch empties and freezes Slim's bank accounts, leaving her unable to rent a room. Tracking her down at a cheap motel, he tries to break in, but she escapes with Gracie, moving to Seattle to stay with her ex-boyfriend Joe.
The next day, men posing as FBI agents show up and threaten Joe, damaging his apartment. Slim goes to her wealthy, estranged father, Jupiter. Even though she sent several unanswered letters to him as a child, he claims to have been unaware of her existence and believes she is just after money, unable to accept the fact that he had any children.
Slim and Gracie briefly find refuge at a commune. Jupiter later contacts her there, revealing that Mitch's associates have threatened him as well, causing him to be interested in helping her. He sends Slim a large sum of money, allowing her to set up a new life and identity, and tells her to reach out if she needs more.
Joe visits Slim in Michigan, but Mitch tracks her down with help from his corrupt cop friend Robbie; who had posed as the rude man in the staged altercation where Mitch and Slim first met. This reveals they had been conning women into sleeping with them for their personal gain. Slim narrowly escapes a struggle with Mitch, who attacks her in a rage in front of Gracie. She then gets away from Robbie in a car chase.
Consulting a lawyer, Slim is warned there is little she can do, although he tells her the custody hearing is possibly a trick to lure her back to Mitch. She goes into hiding in San Francisco and sends Gracie away to safety while she trains in Krav Maga while enlisting the help of a woman who looks identical to her.
Slim breaks into Mitch's new home, hides his guns, jams the phone, plants fake letters saying she is there to discuss custody of Gracie and awaits his return. When he arrives, they fight and Slim beats Mitch unconscious before she eventually knocks him off a balcony to his death. The police regard her actions as self-defense. Slim and Gracie reunite and go to live with Joe in Seattle.