Stanford University dropout Jerry Shaw learns that his
identical twin brother Ethan, an officer in the
U.S. Air Force, has been killed in a car crash. Following the funeral, he is surprised to find a large sum of money in his bank account and his apartment filled with firearms and bomb-making materials. Jerry receives a phone call from a woman who warns that the
FBI is about to arrest him and he needs to run. Disbelieving the voice, he is caught by the FBI and interrogated by Supervising Agent Tom Morgan. While Morgan confers with
Air Force OSI Special Agent Zoe Perez, the woman on the phone arranges for Jerry's escape and directs him to Rachel Holloman, a single mother. The woman on the phone is coercing Rachel by threatening her son Sam, who is aboard the
Capitol Limited en route to the
Kennedy Center in
Washington, D.C., with his school band. The woman on the phone helps the two avoid law enforcement by controlling networked devices including
traffic lights,
mobile phones, automated
cranes, and even
power lines. Meanwhile, the caller redirects a crystalline explosive to a
gemcutter, who cuts it and fixes it into a necklace. Another man steals Sam's trumpet in Chicago and fits the crystal's sonic trigger into the tubing before forwarding it to Sam in Washington. Agent Perez is summoned by
Secretary of Defense George Callister to be read into Ethan's job at
the Pentagon. Ethan monitored the
Department of Defense's top-secret intelligence-gathering
supercomputer, the Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst (ARIIA; ). Callister leaves Pérez with
Major William Bowman and ARIIA to investigate Ethan Shaw's death. Simultaneously, Rachel and Jerry learn that the woman on the phone is actually ARIIA, and that she has "activated" them according to the
Constitution's authorization to recruit civilians for the national defense. Perez and Bowman find evidence that Ethan Shaw hid a microchip in ARIIA's chamber and leave to brief Callister. Afterwards, ARIIA smuggles Jerry and Rachel into her observation theater under the Pentagon. Both groups learn that after ARIIA's recommendation was ignored, a botched operation in
Balochistan resulted in the deaths of U.S. citizens. Therefore, ARIIA concluded that the current
executive branch must be removed to prevent more bloodshed, acting on behalf of "
We the People". It cites the
Declaration of Independence ("whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it"). Belatedly, Jerry learns he has been brought to circumvent
biometric locks placed by his twin that prevent ARIIA from activating Operation Guillotine, a
military simulation of maintaining government after the loss of
all presidential successors. ARIIA had caused Ethan's accident in order to get rid of him. As Secretary Callister agreed with ARIIA's abort recommendation regarding Balochistan, he is to be the
designated survivor and new
president after the crystal detonates at the
State of the Union (SOTU). Another of ARIIA's agents extracts Rachel from the Pentagon and gives her a dress and the explosive necklace to wear to the SOTU. Sam's school band has also been redirected to the
United States Capitol to play for the president, bringing the trigger in Sam's trumpet and the explosive together. Jerry is recaptured by Agent Morgan, who has become convinced of Jerry's innocence. Before sacrificing himself to stop an armed
MQ-9 Reaper sent by ARIIA, Morgan gives Jerry his weapon and ID with which to gain entrance to the Capitol. Arriving in the
House Chamber, Jerry fires the handgun in the air to disrupt the concert before being shot and wounded by the
Secret Service. At the same time, Perez and Bowman destroy ARIIA. Sometime later, Callister reports that ARIIA has been decommissioned and recommends against building another; the Shaw twins, Perez, and Morgan receive awards for their actions; and Jerry attends Sam's birthday party, earning Rachel's gratitude and a kiss. ==Cast==