Trama

Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother carrying a baby for a powerful, shady man.

Two petty, violent criminals kidnap a woman who is being paid $1million to be a surrogate mother. As the baby is for a gangster, the pair's demand for money sees several henchmen and assorted other ruthless characters head after them to Mexico. Bullets rather than talking are always going to settle this one.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Parker (Ryan Phillippe) and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro) are two born troublemakers who travel anywhere they can to find or steal money any way they can. They realize that a pint of blood can get $50, and a shot of sperm can bring in $3000. So, they head to a fertility clinic.

While at a sperm donation facility, they overhear a telephone conversation detailing a $1,000,000 payment to a surrogate mother for bearing the unborn baby of Hal Chidduck (Scott Wilson). They learn that Chidduck's wife is healthy but could not be bothered to carry her own child. The surrogate is always surrounded by bodyguards and is told when to do anything including eating and sleeping. They learn that Dr Allen Painter is attending to the surrogate.

Parker and Longbaugh resolve to kidnap the pregnant surrogate, Robin (Juliette Lewis). Their attempts to kidnap Robin at her pregnancy clinic escalate into a shootout with her bodyguards, Jeffers (Taye Diggs) and Obecks (Nicky Katt). After the shootout, in which two other guards and bystanders are killed, the kidnappers escape with Robin and elude Jeffers and Obecks, who are arrested. During the shootout, Parker had a clear shot at both Jeffers and Obecks and decided not to take it, letting them know that he had the shot, and he let them live.

As the fugitives' head South, Jeffers and Obecks are bailed out and returned to Chidduck by Joe Sarno (James Caan), a seasoned operative and close friend of Chidduck's. As Sarno begins coordinating Robin's rescue, Longbaugh contacts the surrogate's gynecologist, Dr. Allen Painter (Dylan Kussman), and orders him to a truck stop to examine Robin. Sarno was keeping Painter under observation and follows him as soon as he leaves his clinic. Painter explains that Robin is carrying the child of money launderer Hale Chidduck and his wife, Francesca (Kristin Lehman), who are rich. Painter says that Robin should have the baby within no later than 6 days. Longbaugh makes a deal with Painter that he would come to Mexico when they call him, to induce Robin's labor. After the examination, Painter returns to Chidduck and Painter is revealed to be Chidduck's son.

Meanwhile Chidduck is under pressure not to pay the ransom as that would invite the Federal authorities to look into his books and that would be the end of his money laundering business. Joe advises Chidduck to surround the kidnappers and negotiate for Robin, in exchange for their lives.

Longbaugh calls and demands a $15 million ransom for the safe return of Robin and the baby. Francesca is having an affair with Jeffers and overhears his and Obecks' plan to recover the baby but kill the kidnappers, Robin, and Painter. Jeffers and Obecks, tempted by the money, begin forming a plan to save the child, keep the $15 million for themselves, and kill everyone under the guise of paying off the kidnappers.

As Longbaugh hangs up the telephone outside a Mexican motel, he is approached by Sarno, who offers to pay $1 million if they surrender the pregnant Robin and simply walk away. They commiserate about the state of their underworld professions, filled with characters who "want to be criminals more than they want to commit crimes", and guardedly go their separate ways, but Sarno leaves his associate Abner (Geoffrey Lewis) to watch the kidnappers. Longbaugh declines the offer and returns to his motel room, where Parker and Robin are playing cards. Robin reveals to Parker and Longbaugh that Francesca's embryo failed to implant, and Painter is actually the father of her child. Proceeding with the ransom plan, Jeffers and Obecks realize that Robin is Sarno's daughter. Sarno then returns to Chidduck's home to relay the events and plan the next step.

Jeffers and Obecks realize that Sarno is a wild card in this affair, and Jeffers comes to realize that Robin is Sarno's daughter. Jeffers, Obecks and Painter leave to meet with the kidnappers, while Sarno departs separately with the $15 million ransom. At the motel, Parker is having second thoughts on the kidnapping. As he confers with Longbaugh outside the motel room, Robin takes the opportunity to seize a shotgun and barricade herself in the motel room after almost shooting Parker.

As sirens are heard in the distance, Parker and Longbaugh hastily escape, and Robin emerges into the parking lot just as Mexican police officers arrive, followed by Jeffers, Obecks and Painter in another car. As Painter and the bodyguards try to persuade Robin to leave with them, the officers pull their guns and order everybody onto the ground. Suddenly, Parker and Longbaugh open fire from a nearby hilltop, igniting a fierce firefight that kills the two officers before Jeffers shoves Painter and Robin into his car and drives off, leaving the dead officers and a wounded Obecks in the motel parking lot.

Parker and Longbaugh torture Obecks to gain Robin's location, while Jeffers confines Robin in the room of a secluded Mexican brothel and a mortally wounded Abner notifies Sarno. Jeffers forces Painter to perform a C-section to retrieve the baby, despite Robin's confession that the child was conceived between her and Painter and is not Chidduck's. During the operation, the heavily armed Parker and Longbaugh infiltrate the brothel and search for Robin.

The ensuing ambush, which leaves Parker wounded, turns into another standoff, with Jeffers threatening to kill Painter and the baby before Painter kills Jeffers with a hidden gun. Outside the brothel, Sarno arrives with a group of bag men and the $15 million ransom, which they stack in the courtyard. Parker wants to kidnap Robin and Painter again, but Longbaugh, guilt-ridden after seeing her condition, responds: "She's had enough". Despite realizing that the $15 million is bait, Parker and Longbaugh charge headlong into an ambush.

All of Sarno's men are killed in the ensuing gunfight. However, Sarno manages to shoot and cripple the already wounded Parker and Longbaugh, and then calls for an ambulance. As a child's cries break the silence, Painter emerges with Robin, newborn baby in her arms. Lying in a pool of blood, Parker and Longbaugh call out to Sarno, informing him that the baby is in fact Robin and Painter's, and thus Sarno's own grandson. Painter wonders aloud if this fact will influence Sarno to let them keep the child. Robin and her baby are then taken away in the ambulance with Painter, Sarno and the $15 million, leaving Parker and Longbaugh to bleed out. Miles away and days later, Chidduck's wife reveals that she's pregnant (possibly from Jeffers, with whom she was having an affair).