- A veteran thief recruits a younger crook to help him pull off one final job in order to repay his debt to the Russian mob.
- In New York, experienced art thief Keith Ripley invites Gabriel Martin, the bold thief from Miami, to team up with him. He plans the heist of two valuable mysterious antique Faberge eggs, located in a safe, of the well-protected Russian Romanov jewelry. Each egg is worth $20 million on the black market, and Ripley needs his cut to free himself from his debt to a powerful mobster known as Nicky. The reluctant Gabriel agrees to participate after having a one-night stand with Ripley's goddaughter Alexandra Karolin. Meanwhile, the persistent Lieutenant Weber, who has unsuccessfully tried to put Ripley in jail for 20 years, figures out how to anticipate the criminal's movements in order to catch him.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- In New York, veteran thief Keith Ripley (Morgan Freeman) recruits younger crook Gabriel Martin (Antonio Banderas) to help him pull off one final job in order to repay his debt to the Russian mafia. Ripley saw Martin in action during a subway heist and was impressed with his getaway. Ripley had killed his previous partner, Victor Korolenko (Rade Serbedzija), before they could complete the plan. Ripley's plan was to steal 2 Faberge eggs worth $20 MM each. According to the cops, apparently Victor was about to squeal to the NYPD, which would have meant jail for Ripley, so Ripley killed him.
Martin is unsure of Ripley, but Ripley's goddaughter, Alexandra Korolenko (Radha Mitchell), who is Victor's daughter, convinces him otherwise, although Ripley does not like that the two are getting close. Ripley tells Martin the plan, that they are going to steal from a Russian museum (owned by the Romanovs (Russian Mafia)) that has been smuggling Russian treasures into the country and bribing the NYPD with large donations and expensive equipment, so that they are left alone to their business. The two infiltrate a party at the museum posing as cops, to gather information about their vault (where the eggs are stored). Lt. Weber (Robert Forster) a detective from NYPD, has a vendetta against Ripley and has been trying to catch him for the last 22 yrs of his career, but never has enough evidence against Ripley. Victor was going to be his witness, before Ripley shot him.
According to Alexandra, the Russian mafia killed Victor, cause they wanted Ripley to settle his debts. According to Ripley, victor was in debt of Russian mafia led by Nicky. But Nicky was ready to forgive the debt if Victor helped steal the eggs. Victor refused, as he wanted to protect Alex. So he went to the NYPD, for witness protection and was killed by the Russians instead.
The Russian mob, led by Nicky Petrovitch, grow impatient and kidnap Alexandra, telling Ripley he must steal two Fabergé eggs from the Russian Museum in order to get her back. Nicky also tells them that the eggs belong to him, as they were crafted by his great grand father, and stolen by the Kremlin. With Alex involved, now Martin is determined to help steal the eggs. When the duo get into the vaults of the museum with the eggs, Martin reveals he is an undercover cop from Miami planted by Weber to catch Ripley, leaves Ripley locked in the vault and informs Weber, while taking the eggs to the Russian mobster to free Alexandra. After Alexandra is released Martin is forced to meet with Nicky who reveals that the eggs they have stolen are made of wood. Meanwhile, Weber and his squad enter the museum, but are detained by the security guards due to Martin telling the guards he was a cop as he escaped.
Martin reports in to the police the next morning after the police have picked up Nicky, only to learn that the man they have in custody is not the man Martin met (earlier when he met Nicky with Ripley, when he had kidnapped Alex), and that the man he met was actually Victor Korolenko, who had faked his death with Ripley's help. It is then revealed that Ripley had made a deal with Romanov's and had cleaned out the vault of all the smuggled items (which had included the eggs) before the police could inspect it, meaning there was no evidence that anything had been stolen and that Martin's testimony would be worthless as his actions have been kept off the book to prevent Ripley from finding out and that Martin's involvement with Alex compromises him, and Ripley had to be let go (Alex appeared as his lawyer at his bail hearing)
Ripley later calls Martin from a tarmac ready to leave with Victor to meet with a buyer for the eggs, letting him know that they knew Martin was a cop from the beginning. Martin later meets up with Alex, who remained in New York, and who confesses that her feelings for him are real. Martin decides to become a thief.
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