We first meet William Keane (Damian Lewis) in the Port Authority bus terminal where he is desperately searching for his 6-year-old daughter, who has been missing for months. Repeatedly drawn to the site of the purported abduction, Keane wanders the bus station compulsively going over the events of that fateful day. Veering between days of relentless searching and nights of alcohol and drug induced extremes of self-destructive behavior, he seems to be teetering precariously on the edge of sanity. Then one day he meets a financially strapped young woman, Lynn Bedik (Amy Ryan), and her 7-year-old daughter, Kira (Abigail Breslin), who are also staying at the same transient motel in New Jersey. He reaches out to them and soon the mother entrusts him to pick up Kira after school and bring her home. As he becomes increasingly attached to the child, the story moves to a whole new level of poignancy and tension, as Keane searches for redemption through the little girl.