Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) is one of the top students in his high school class and a typical American 16-year-old-until he uncovers a deadly secret. Far from suspicion, Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen) has been quietly living in Todd’s hometown. Obsessed with the atrocities Dussander committed during the war, Todd begins to blackmail the old man: in exchange for the teenager’s silence, Dussander must reveal his evil past. The two begin a game of psychological warfare that spirals out of control, producing terrifying results.