谨慎恭敬的杰克·马尔比（罗伯特·德尼罗 Robert De Niro 饰）在某政府部门供职，每天的工作便是对那些申请假释的犯人进行审核。他年复一年干着这份枯燥无味的工作，与妻子麦迪琳（Frances Conroy 饰）的关系也分外冷淡。他的心中隐藏着蓬勃的欲望，却又不得不用端正的表象去掩饰。
在杰克即将退休的时刻，已经蹲了八年大牢的纵火犯乔治·“石头”·克里森（爱德华·诺顿 Edward Norton 饰）来到他的桌前。乔治希望早日走出大墙，为此巧言令色试图博取杰克的信任，甚至不惜让美艳的妻子卢赛塔（米拉·乔沃维奇 Milla Jovovich 饰）色诱这个看似一本正经的君子。杰克心中的欲望渐渐失控，而企图通过宗教包装自己的乔治也仿佛听到来自上帝的福音……
Lewis returns to Oxford after several years absence and is reluctantly assigned by his new boss, DCS Innocent, to the murder of an Oxford mathematics student who was shot while participating in a sleep study. The key-code used to access the sleep lab was assigned to a fellow maths student, Daniel Griffin, but Daniel's math tutor has provided him with an alibi. Daniel is a maladjusted young man who will soon inherit his father's automotive empire. He is disruptive and has no respect for his uncle who now heads the company. The future of the company however rests on an impending deal with Japanese investors who insist that family unity is all important at this time. When two other murder occurs, Lewis must decipher a cryptic clue left in an old case file by his former boss, Chief Inspector Morse.
