Introduction:

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a retired CIA operative, called a “preventer”, from their elite Special Activities Division. He has retired to spend more time with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), who now lives with his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her new wealthy husband Stuart (Xander Berkeley). When pop diva Sheerah (Holly Valance) comes to town, friends and former co-workers of Mills, who now run a security outfit, offer him a job for the night. After the show, Sheerah is attacked, but Bryan disables the assailant and gets her safely out of danger. Thankful, Sheerah expresses some interest in Mills’ daughter after learning that Kim wants to be a singer herself. Sheerah passes along her contact information.

The next day, Mills discovers that Kim wants to take a holiday trip to Paris, with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy). Despite his initial concerns about the trip, Mills allows her to go, later discovering that their actual plan is to travel around Europe following the band U2. Arriving at the Paris airport, Kim and Amanda meet a Frenchman named Peter (Nicolas Giraud), who learns their address and reports it to an unseen associate.