Disillusioned by his years as a spy, Robert McCall resigns from his job, determined to help people in need. His first two clients are a telecommunications employee who stumbles onto an extortion ring, and a woman threatened by a stalker.

A Chinatown gang kidnap whom they believe is the son of a wealthy Chinese-American couple, unaware that he is actually the maid's child. Fearful that the police will not be able to get the boy back alive, the maid contacts Robert McCall.

McCall's attempt to help a former agent defect from the USSR goes badly, leaving the man's daughter in peril. McCall is also asked by a teenage boy for help against a local gang of bullies.