When a workaholic Senator is taken hostage on a ship hijacked by cyber-terrorists, she uncovers their plot to ignite a global economic meltdown, and her only ally to stop them is a man she hasn't seen in 35 years--her father. Inspired by real events. ERIN BROCKOVICH meets CAPTAIN PHILLIPS meets AIR FORCE ONE.

SYNOPSIS:

Senator Sam Silva is an ambitious single mom with attachment issues, ever since her father joined the Merchant Marine when she was a teenager, and never returned. Sam’s so obsessed with proving her worth as a mixed-race woman in male-dominated Washington, and to her long-absent father, she fails to be there for her teenaged daughter.

As new chairperson of the Subcommittee that oversees the Merchant Marine, Sam is given the mundane task of doing a random safety assessment aboard a ship in international waters.

Less than 48 hours later, Sam’s on a container ship in the world’s busiest chokepoint, and is confronted with her estranged father, the ship’s captain. It’s a secret they both intend to keep.

That night, pirates pull off a Trojan horse attack, led by rogue First Mate Marchetti, to launch 9/11 at sea. Sam discovers the cyber-terrorists are using sophisticated technology to attack ships in chokepoints and are capable of paralyzing the global economy.

Marchetti's onboard hackers block the ship's navigation and communication systems, rendering the ship invisible. Then his crew scatter floating mines throughout the strait, setting up a real-life game of Battleship.

Sam manages to get a warning message through, and the President marshals all her resources for a rescue. But Marchetti intercepts Sam’s message, and blows up the rescue ship.

As punishment, Marchetti straps Sam’s father into a suicide vest, with a timer counting down, and maroons them on a tanker rigged as a floating time-bomb.

If Marchetti’s $7 billion ransom isn’t paid, he’ll use his hostages as the fuse to detonate nuclear-level explosions that will destroy the chokepoint, causing the world economy to crumble.

The last hope for rescue is an emergency beacon at the highest point of the ship. It will take a dangerous free climb to reach it. But after a near-death climbing accident, Sam is terrified of heights. Rather than going below to prevent the detonation of his suicide vest, Captain Lopez stays to support Sam during her climb, like he taught her so many years ago.

Sam is successful in deploying the emergency beacon, but is stranded high above the deck, frozen in fear. Marchetti realizes he’s not getting his ransom and goes after Sam and Captain Lopez in crazed anger.

A SEAL helicopter arrives, but the pirates have them out-gunned. As Marchetti’s escaping, a SEAL's last desperate shot blows his boat up, not realizing Sam's father is on it.

As the SEALs extract the surviving hostages, they find another survivor in the water—Sam’s father.

Back in Washington, D.C. - Sam heals her relationship with her father, and keeps her promise to her daughter to spend more time together. Sam has finally overcome her emotional chokepoints.

Epilogue: We see another strange container being loaded onto another ship, bound for another chokepoint…