Tom Welles (Cage) is a private eye on the biggest case of his life when he is hired by a wealthy widow who finds a reel of 8mm film in her dead husband's safe. The film appears to be a snuff movie where a girl looks like she was being murdered. The widow wants Tom to get to the bottom of the case and find out what really happened to the girl and what her husband's involvement in the film was. Tom follows the trail and soon discovers that the secrets he uncovered may cost him his life.