They kidnapped the wrong person’s daughter.
Retired CIA field agent Bryan Mills attempts to build a closer relationship with his 17-year-old daughter Kim, who lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. While overseeing security at a concert for pop star Sheerah, Bryan saves the musician from an armed attacker. Out of gratitude, Sheerah offers to have Kim assessed as a singer. Before Bryan can tell her about the offer, Kim asks her father for permission to travel to Paris with her best friend Amanda. As he's wary about Kim's safety since she wants to go on without him, he initially refuses, but eventually gives in to her demands. At the airport, Bryan learns the girls are actually planning to follow U2 during their Vertigo Tour.
At the funeral of his son Marko and associates in Tropojë, Albanian mafia head Murad Hoxha vows to seek vengeance on his son's killer. Travelling to Paris with his men, he interrogates and tortures former intelligence agent Jean-Claude Pitrel, whose business card was found at the scene of Marko's death, but finds no information. He then bribes a corrupt police official for Pitrel's files and deduces that Pitrel's old friend Bryan Mills was responsible and is in Istanbul.
Former covert operative Bryan Mills visits his daughter, Kim, to deliver a birthday gift. After an awkward visit, he invites his former wife, Lenore, to dinner. Although she declines, she shows up at his apartment and tells him about her marital problems. He agrees to let her try to work things out with her current husband Stuart.
