Jim Wyatt, a prominent state senator from Minnesota, is kidnapped on a visit to New York City by an Islamic human rights group who mistakenly believe that he is a CIA agent. They hold him hostage in return for the release of a Muslim cleric who was convicted and imprisoned for inciting violence in connection with the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. Through a series of video tapes addressed to the public and aired on television, Jim urges people to support the cause of releasing the cleric, who he believes was wrongly convicted. Between the tapes, while locked in a bedroom, Jim examines his relationships with his four wives, his seven children, and his parents. He also develops a relationship with Zoraya, the leader of his captors, who is young enough to be his daughter. Out in the world Muslims are being killed daily in the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia, which his captors use as justification for what they are doing. Since they have set a deadline by which time if the government doesn't release the cleric they will kill Jim, his life depends on his efforts to gain the trust of Zoraya and persuade the government to release the cleric.