Ethan McCoy (Nick Nolte) of the DEA is carrying out a search inside a burned-down house and is looking for Cain (Josh Duhamel). Unable to find any evidence, he orders his DEA men to track Cain wherever he is. Cain was shown escaping the house a few minutes before it blew up. He was pursued by armed assailants and his car was blown up. Meanwhile, John Cain wakes up in a Mexican hospital without having any idea of who he is or how he got there. A woman by his side, Anna (Abbie Cornish), claims to be his wife. There is also a guy named Eddie (Omar Chaparro) who is supposed to be his friend. Eddie promises to help him bring his memory back. He then makes his way to the doctor, under whose care Cain is, and threatens to kill his family unless he brings back Cain's memory by any means necessary.Anna says that Cain was born on Dec 2nd, 1972, in Boulder Colorado. With time, as Cain's memory comes back to him in bits and pieces, he finds that those around him aren't what they seem. Cain knows that Anna is not his wife. Cain realizes that every time he remembers something, the Doctor gives him a sedative. Cain attacks the doctor and tries to escape the hospital with Anna. Eddie and his men attack Cain and force him to hide inside the hospital. Anna tells Cain that he is very close to Eddie and Eddie is a drug dealer. Eddie and Cain did all kinds of deals together. Cain believes that he is a drug dealer. Cain doesn't believe Anna and ties her to a chair in the utilities area. Cain starts attacking Cain's men inside the hospital.The doctor finds Cain and takes him to a cabin. Cain finds out that they are looking for a case he had in his possession before he landed in the hospital. He stole it from General Mondejo, head of the army, someone to whom all the cartels report, and then went off-grid. And since he arrived at the hospital, Eddie has been trying to administer memory drugs to bring his memory back so that he can remember the location of the case. The Doctor was giving him B12 to counter the effects of the memory drugs. The doctor is helping Cain, as he has been terrorized by Eddie for many years. Cain calls a number that he found inside his wallet. He is connected to McCoy. McCoy tells him that he is DEA and has been undercover in Eddie's organization for the last 5 years. Cain finds evidence of Eddie's drugs operation inside the hospital. Cain returns to Anna. Anna tells him that he was recruited by the CIA. John Cain knows he is in a "Blackout."One of Eddie's men finds Cain. Cain learns that Montejo paid money $20 million for the case, but Cain double crossed him by taking the money and the case. Cain talks to Eddie. Eddie tells Cain that he knew Cain was DEA (McCoy told Cain earlier that he was DEA), and they both decided to "play" DEA by stealing the case and bringing it to General Montejo. Cain escapes from Eddie when his men open fire on him and meets Anna again inside the hospital. McCoy calls and says that the cavalry is on the way to rescue Cain. Later on, it is Anna who confirms that John Cain is indeed DEA, but he was recruited by the CIA to recover the case. So, we do not really know what Cain intended to do with the case. Cain is confused about whether he is the good guy or the bad guy.Anna recovers the case from the doctor's chamber. We also find out that the doctor actually helped Cain by making him forget his memories so that the bad guys (Eddie and the others) couldn't kill him. It is revealed that the case has "the names and addresses of the Illuminati" ... "the puppeteers and the puppets..." [that run the world]. McCoy turns out to be another bad guy trying to get his hands on the case."It's about order," says Anna to Cain, addressing the importance of the case. Keeping in mind how information is power during present times, any one person with all that intel (that can "destroy the government," according to Anna) can certainly become an international threat, compromising relations among nations and causing disorder and chaos. When Cain went off the grid, he compromised the order. Perhaps because he realized how dangerous it could be in the hands of the wrong person. It was Cain's good fortune that his doctor hid it somewhere where no one could find it unless they looked hard. Anna did. Cain remembers that he was in a romantic relationship with Anna.Cain attacks the remainder of Eddie's men and kills them all, just as McCoy arrives with his troops. Cain gets into McCoy's car with Anna. Turns out McCoy is crooked as well and wants his own hands on the case. McCoy believes that Anna was working for him, but Anna ends up attacking all of McCoy's men.Anna and Cain run away with the case after killing all of McCoy's men. Cain shoots McCoy as well, but it's only a flesh wound. No single organization should have the case in its possession. Such things should be destroyed unless there is a place where they can be locked away until the time comes to bring them out again.