Arthur (Denzel Washington) is a worker in a heavy machinery factory. He works hard and takes care of his family, but his life is still not rich. In order to support the family, his wife Denise also has to go to work to earn money, and the family has repeated financial problems. The 9-year-old son Michael is a bright spot in their lives.
But misfortune always happens to the poor. One day, Michael suddenly fainted on a baseball game. Arthur sent him to the hospital and learned that his son had a serious congenital heart disease and needed a heart transplant to save his life.
The cost of a heart transplant is very expensive, and Arthur's medical insurance is far from enough to cover the $250,000 surgical fee. Upon learning of this situation, the head of the hospital decided to remove Michael from the waiting list of transplant recipients unless Arthur could prepay 30% of the operation fee. This action angered Arthur. After turning to Michael’s attending doctor Turner and the insurance company to fail, he angrily broke into the emergency room of the hospital with a gun, kidnapped several medical staff and patients as hostages, and demanded the hospital. Operate on his son immediately.
However, things were not as simple as Arthur had imagined. He was faced with not only a group of innocent hostages who needed care, but also an experienced negotiator and a sheriff who wanted a quick deal. The hospital was surrounded by police, and the confrontation between Arthur and the police also alarmed the media. The public in the city paid great attention to this development. Their feelings seem to be more inclined to the lawbreaker Arthur, because he is a victim of today's uncomfortable medical and insurance system. Most citizens support Arthur's approach, but public sympathy cannot help Arthur. The sheriff wanted a quick fix and found a sniper to kill him. Arthur, who only injured his arm, took control of the sniper and asked the police to push his son Michael in. The police agreed to let his son in. Arthur used an extreme and tough way to ask the doctor to change his son's heart. He even wanted to use his heart to save his son's life by suicide. Finally, just as he was about to commit suicide, good news came. With a matching heart, his son Michael was saved and he was sentenced. Arthur exchanged his son's new life with his prison disaster, and gained people's respect; the child's voice: dad thank-you! It is undoubtedly the voice of all the children of the world who should confess to their parents. As another black brother said: you are my hero! Arthur not only defended the dignity of a father, but also a hero who resisted social injustice!
