When FBI Special Agent Joe Merriwether (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) finds himself dealing with a series of disturbing, unsolved murders, he decides to ask for help from a retired former colleague, John Clancy (Anthony Hopkins), a psychoanalyst with psychic abilities. Dr. Clancy, who stopped practicing and became reclusive after the death of his young daughter and the subsequent end of his marriage, wants nothing to do with the case, nor does he want to use his gifts. But when very violent visions of Joe's young colleague, FBI Special Agent Katherine Cowles (Abbie Cornish), come to mind, John changes his mind, thinking these might also be a kind of personal message. His exceptional intuitive powers lead him on the trail of a suspect, Charles Ambrose (Colin Farrell), but the doctor soon realizes that his "gift" is nothing compared to the extraordinary powers of this assassin on a mission.