Years ago, Shuhei Ishida and Maiko Tono were a star negotiating team for the Japanese police. They worked successfully as a pair under the police headquarters' "Negotiator System"--a system devised for targeting hostage situations in Japan--until rumors of a romantic affair broke them up and lost Maiko her job. Now stuck doing dull work in a filing room, Maiko is kept behind the scenes, until a hostage situation involving Ishida's wife and child prompts the estranged pair to reunite.