夜幕低垂,麦克斯(杰米·福克斯 Jamie Foxx 饰)接了一位注定要改变他人生的客人――文森特(汤姆·克鲁斯 Tom Cruise 饰)。 文森特受雇于一家跨国贩毒集团,这晚来到洛杉矶要干掉五名重要证人。他与我们经常看到的杀手大不一样,他天生喜欢唠叨,在他挟持 麦克斯去帮他完成杀人工作时,还振振有词――“我又不是卢旺达大屠杀,我杀人本来就不是好人,可以说是替天行道,你有什么可以指责我的?”麦克斯也一时语塞。 这晚要杀的最后一个人是助理检查官,她曾是麦克斯的顾客。麦克斯决心保护她……LA cabbie Max Durocher is the type of person who can wax poetic about other people's lives, which impresses U.S. Justice Department prosecutor Annie Farrell, one of his fares, so much that she gives him her telephone number at the end of her ride. Although a dedicated man as seen through the efficiency in which he does his work, he can't or won't translate that eloquence into a better life for himself. He deludes himself into believing that his now twelve year cabbie job is temporary and that someday he will own his own limousine service. He even lies to his hospitalized mother that he already owns one, with a further lie that he tells her as such primarily to make her happy, rather than the truth which is that he won't do anything to achieve that dream. One night, Max picks up a well dressed man named Vincent, who asks Max to be his only fare for the evening. For a flat fee of $600, plus an extra $100 if he gets to the airport on time - Vincent wants Max to drive him to five stops that evening. Max somewhat reluctantly agrees. Max learns the hard way at their first stop when a body falls from a third story apartment window and lands dead on top of his cab that Vincent is a contract hit man. Vincent's main goal, as per his current contract, is to kill five people, one at each of the stops, but he will not let others get in the way of that goal, even if it means killing them, including Max. As Vincent forces Max to continue driving him for the evening, Max tries slyly at every turn to take back control of his life from Vincent, especially when Max learns of one of the names on Vincent's hit list. Meanwhile, LAPD narcotics detective, Ray Fanning, and ultimately the FBI get involved when Vincent's first victim is associated with a case in which Ray is working undercover. Ray is able to piece together information which makes him hot on Max and Vincent's tail.