兰斯林(丹尼斯·奎德 Dennis Quaid 饰)警官同时也是一个单身父亲,因公务繁忙,他无暇照顾两个儿子,大儿子亚历克斯无形中时常扮演父亲的角色。最近兰斯林被一桩连续杀人案缠住,每个凶案现场都发现了至少四名嫌疑人的踪迹,并且统一留下了“过来看”的血色留言,死者死于悬挂的状态充满了宗教意味,兰斯林从人体悬挂的铁架入手,发现这一干罪犯以杀人作为宗教仪式,并且以启示录中记载的“天启四骑士”自居。第一个受害者的华裔养女克里斯汀(章子怡 饰)主动找到兰斯林,坦承了自己与连续杀人案的关系,但是这不能阻止更多人受害,兰斯林惊见自己最不愿意看到的事情发生了……
杰克(科尔·豪瑟 Cole Hauser 饰)和莫利(凯特·勒维宁 Kate Levering 饰)是一对平凡的夫妻,他们和收养来的儿子乔伊(Maxwell Perry Cotton 饰)过着平静而又安宁的生活。虽然乔伊并非亲生,但莫利和杰克早就将其视如己出。
一天,一通突如其来的电话让美好的生活化作了泡影。原来,乔伊的生父名叫瑞普(巴里·佩珀 Barry Pepper 饰),刚刚出狱的他同妻子温蒂(米拉·索维诺 Mira Sorvino 饰)做出了一个莽撞的决定,他们决定将乔伊从莫利和杰克的身边带走,去建立属于他们的新家庭。这一消息使夫妻二人陷入了极度恐慌,为了保护乔伊不被夺走,他们的脑海里开始酝酿出了一个计划。而在四个大人剑拔弩张之际,谁也没有想到去问一问作为当事人的乔伊心中的想法。
This is commonly known as Jean Renoir's first American film (1941), although Renoir scholar Alexander Sesonske has established that Renoir's creative role in the project was severely hampered by producer Darryl F. Zanuck and that he didn't regard much of the film as his own. (The ending, for instance, was written by Zanuck and directed by Irving Pichel.) Nevertheless, the film has certain beauties and pleasures. Part of it was shot in Georgia's Okefenokee swamp, and the treatment of the small community living ~Censored~ is often pungent and distinctive.