Michael Bennett... homicide detective for NYPD who had done a stint as hostage negotiator... Irish background... Irish wife who is dying of cancer with great nobility of spirit, 10 adopted children ... an excop priest uncle, a crusty grandfather, and an aupair, sent by his wife's family make up his wonderful family...

And the expresident's wife is dead, due to extreme reaction to peanut oil... and at the state funeral at NewYork cathedral, with many political and famous people, 10 gunmen, dressed in monk robes take over the funeral... expelling the security 1st, then expelling the majority of the attendees, and keeping 30 hostages... they then question each hostage gathering their account numbers and passwords, and then contact the negotiator (which ends up to be Michael), saying they want their accounts depleted and 100 million dollars transferred to a secured account... Michael doesn't really do anything, just relays 'Jack's' requests to all...

Three days later, 1 failed rescue attempt by the police & 1 failed freedom attempt inside (ratted out by the rowdy female singer), and 7 deaths (including the mayor of New York), the money is transferred... they then ask for 11 black SUV's and with hostages and hostage takers all dressed in monk robes, they exit, split up, and both sets of vehicles ran off the road and into the river... the hostages get to safety, the hostage takers, wearing wet suits, travel down river undetected and to freedom... all except one car, the hostage driver rams the car into a building, throwing the hostage taker out and to his death, the others are okay...

The dead hostage taker's, though his fingerprints were burned off, subdermal fingerprints are captured and don't match... but 2 months later, no evidence to help them out, Michael takes a call from a reporter who interviewed one of the hostages, and they suggest it was people in law enforcement that had been in the cathedral... He takes a recording of Jack's voice to the local prison, asking the inmates if anyone recognized the voice... and one does... the whole crew were guards at SingSing... The 2 head guys were part of a prison takeover years earlier, the only 2 to survive, and were bitter at the lack of ... paid to them, so they divised a plan to get back at the world... and the FBI negotiator (at that time, and attache to this one) was their 'inside' man...

So they caught them all... presumable retrieved the money...

and his wife died on Christmas Day, in his arms, after spending a last warm and wonderful half hour with the kids... and the story ends when they plant a tree by the river where she liked to spend time with the kids, her last Christmas gift to them, a place where they could come to 'talk' with her.... hmmmmm