Tom Selznick Allen Leech is a rising concert pianist who nearly trips over his own nerves after a failed attempt at the intricate piece La Cinquette. Five years pass, and he is set for a comeback in Chicago, dedicating the performance to his late mentor, Patrick Godureaux, the composer of La Cinquette whose vast fortune has vanished and become a focal point of media intrigue. The comeback is spurred by the encouragement of his actress-singer wife, Emma Kerry Bishé.
As Tom arrives at the theater, the evening’s conductor, Norman Jim Arnold, offers quiet reassurance. A house usher hands Tom a folder with sheet music, but he discards it when he discovers a manuscript tucked inside. During the concert, a chilling note appears on the manuscript: < >Play one wrong note and you DIE</ >. Believing it to be a cruel prank, he brushes it off, only to uncover additional notes that threaten Emma and a laser dot that tracks his every move.
Disturbed, Tom exits the stage and receives a text instructing him to locate and wear an earpiece that will connect him to the would-be assassin, Clem John Cusack. When Tom returns to perform, Clem reveals the performance’s depth of danger: he demonstrates his stealth and range by firing a shot into the floor just to Tom’s left, unnoticed by the rest of the audience. In a desperate move, Tom contacts his friend Wayne Elijah Wood, who sits in the crowd. Wayne’s phone ring momentarily disrupts the show, forcing him to leave the hall in embarrassment.
Tom texts Wayne back, but the usher’s assistant kills Wayne, and shortly afterward Clem declares that the required performance is no longer Beethoven’s Tempest Sonata but the flawless execution of La Cinquette, because an embedded lock in the piano will unlock a safe-deposit box containing Godureaux’s disappeared fortune. Clem also reveals that he is the locksmith who helped Godureaux engineer the mechanism. Tom insists he can only perform La Cinquette with sheet music, which complicates the escalating plan.
During intermission, Tom races backstage to recover the crumpled manuscript, only to learn that the janitor has destroyed it. With Emma’s gift—a tablet he has used to study the piece earlier— Tom feverishly takes notes to memorize the work and return to the stage. Norman announces that Tom will perform the Tempest Sonata, but Tom interrupts, announcing that he will instead deliver a flawless reading of La Cinquette to the audience’s delight. Clem, however, warns Tom to pace himself so he does not burn out.
Tom’s rendition of the piece is pristine until the final note, which he intentionally misplays. The crowd erupts in applause as Tom proves that he has conquered both La Cinquette and his own stage fright. He then introduces Emma to the audience, inviting her to sing an encore. Emma reluctantly agrees, and, backed by Norman, performs a rendition of Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. The usher, realizing the plan has failed, attempts to escape, but Clem shoots him. Tom hears the gunfire and rushes backstage.
He finds the usher dead and Clem emerges from the shadows, chasing Tom to the catwalk above the stage. In a tense struggle, Tom braces himself and pulls Clem over the railing. They fall to the stage, with Clem crashing into the piano while Tom lands safely to the side and survives. Emma rushes to him, and he tells her, "I think I broke my leg."
Waiting for an ambulance with Emma, Tom surveys the ruined piano being loaded onto a truck. He climbs into the cargo bay, where he plays the last four bars of La Cinquette once more, but nothing happens. Disappointed, he turns away—then the internal lock mechanism begins turning, and the sound of a metal key clinking echoes on the floor. Tom bends down, retrieves the key, and the camera cuts to black, leaving the fate of Godureaux’s fortune once more shrouded in mystery.
> I think I broke my leg
What began as a backstage drama about performance nerves and artistic redemption evolves into a ruthless game of danger and deception, where art, memory, and money collide. The film threads a tense thriller with intimate moments of doubt and triumph, anchored by a performance-driven climax that tests not only Tom Selznick’s technical skill but his ability to trust those around him, especially Emma, whose courage helps him endure the night’s deadly gambit.
