Panic Room

Meg Altman - emotionally estranged from her cheating ex-husband, pharmaceutical magnate Stephen Altman - and their street-wise pre-teen daughter Sarah Altman are spending their first night in their just purchased converted brownstone in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The conversions, which include a functioning elevator and secure panic room, were made by the now deceased former owner, a wealthy recluse whose family is now fighting over the whereabouts of his vast estate. What Meg does not know is that part of that estate - supposedly $3 million - is hidden in a safe in the floor of the panic room, something that Burnham, Junior and Raoul know. Junior is the grandson of the previous owner, Burnham works for the security company that monitors the security system for the brownstone including its panic room, and Raoul is Junior's gun-toting hired hand. The three plan on retrieving the money. Believing the brownstone still empty, the three criminals break into the brownstone and quickly find that it is not as empty as they believed. When all five realize there are others unexpected in the house, Meg and Sarah are able to make it into the panic room, but one that as of yet has no functioning telephone, which Burnham knows. Burnham also knows there is no way for him or his partners to get into the panic room. The five are at a standoff as Meg and Sarah will not leave the panic room, while the three criminals won't leave until they get the money. As Meg and Sarah try to figure out how to get a message to the outside world - specifically either to the police or Stephen - they are working against time as Sarah is a diabetic who does not have access to her insulin. And the three criminals may have other foes besides the Altmans, the three who are differing personalities and thus have different motivations in stealing the money. Each may have different thoughts on how far they should go to get it.