Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), a refugee from Chechnya, enters Hamburg, Germany, illegally. Günther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a German espionage agent, leads a team that seeks to develop intelligence from the local Muslim community. The team learns of Karpov's presence from CCTV footage and confirms from Russian intelligence that he is considered to be a potentially dangerous terrorist. Bachmann's team also tracks the activities of a local Muslim philanthropist, Dr. Abdullah (Homayoun Ershadi), who is believed to be funneling funds to terrorist activities, though the team is unable to prove this. German security official Mohr (Rainer Bock) and American diplomatic attaché Sullivan (Robin Wright) both take interest in the two cases.
Karpov contacts an immigration lawyer, Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), through a local Muslim family, and Richter puts him in contact with Tommy Brue (Willem Dafoe), a banker whose father laundered money for Karpov's father. Karpov identifies with his maternal Chechen heritage and doesn't want his father's money. Bachmann's team is able to turn Brue and Richter who convince Karpov to donate the funds to Abdullah's organization in the hope that Abdullah will reroute some of the funds to a shipping company acting as a front for al-Qaeda. Bachmann plans to capture Abdullah and turn him as well in order to ensnare those higher up in the terrorist organization. The plan is approved by the interior minister, and Abdullah does indeed route funds to the shipping company, but as Bachmann prepares to take Abdullah into custody, he is ambushed by forces reporting to Mohr and Sullivan who capture Abdullah and Karpov. Bachmann walks away, defeated.
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