After the lifts in a new york skyscraper begin inexplicably malfunctioning, putting its passengers in danger, mechanic Mark Newman (James Marshall) and author Jennifer Evans (Naomi Watts) begin separate investigations. Newman gets immunity from superiors while a few gruesome deaths are caused by other elevator incidents, in his companion, which manufactured the elevator. The police assume and get involved that terrorists are more responsible, but there looms a far stranger excuse.