While in a restaurant, Carla Davenport (Kate Beckinsale), Charlie Archenault (Forest Whitaker), Bruce Laraby (Guy Pearce), Anne Hagen (Dakota Fanning) and her best friend Jimmy Jasperson (Josh Hutcherson) suddenly hear gunshots. Anne’s father, Anne and Jimmy retreat under a table to watch a suicidal gunman shoot several people (including Anne’s father) and then himself. This is what causes the trauma among the five that survived the murder. Struggling to understand her father’s death, Anne forms some sort of religious hysteria. Jimmy becomes mute, protecting a secret that he and Anne share until it nearly destroys him and his already fractured family. Charlie, who was grazed by a bullet and is a driving-school teacher, attempts to make his incredible luck work for him at the casino. Carla, the restaurant cashier, loses her ability to take care of herself and her infant son. (Ron Abler), a psychologist, attempts to help the survivors but is met with suspicion and little response from any of them. Dr. Laraby (Guy Pearce), an ER physician who failed to save two of the shooting victims, turns to his wife as someone to ’save.’ The movie follows these five traumatized people as they struggle to regain their trust in the ordinary world.
