Edward "the Torch" Garrotte, Jean-Claude Van Damme is a serial killer who preys on women who are mothers, setting them ablaze. Detective Jake Riley Michael Rooker is a Seattle cop who has spent three years chasing Garrotte. Just days before Jake's retirement, Garrotte strikes again, but Jake is off the case at his retirement party; a chilling call from Garrotte threatens Jake's friends and family. Realizing Garrotte must be stopped, Riley returns to duty.
A secret government agency enlists Jake as a consultant on a top‑secret project: they have cloned Garrotte from DNA evidence and created the Replicant, a being who carries Garrotte's memories and shares a telepathic link to him. The Replicant resembles a 40‑year‑old in body but has the mind of a child. Jake's role is to train the Replicant, guiding him as they use the killer's memories to close in on the real Garrotte. The Replicant is brought to life as a living mirror of the criminal, a complicated blend of humanity and danger, and his bond with Jake grows under pressure.
The Replicant and Riley begin their pursuit. The Replicant trusts Jake for protection, even when Jake's rough resolve tests their fragile partnership; the young man views Jake as family, while Garrotte’s killer instinct remains a constant threat hovering over every step they take. In a bar confrontation where Garrotte fails to kill Jake with a bomb, Garrotte murders a bartender but spares the Replicant. An origin story reveals Garrotte's brutal past, a childhood of abuse at his mother's hands, followed by her murder of her unfaithful husband and a failed attempt to burn the family home—reasons that illuminate his deep-seated hatred of women and his capacity for cruelty.
In a parking garage, Garrotte tries to sow distrust by claiming Jake cannot be trusted. The Replicant asks why Jake would protect him, and Jake warns that Garrotte is a sociopath, but the Replicant refuses to listen. They uncover Garrotte's real name, Luc Savard, and rush to the hospital to talk with Savard's mother, only to discover she has died of a heart attack. Garrotte arrives, beats Jake, and tries to recruit the Replicant to join him, but the Replicant resists. The two men collide in an adrenaline‑fueled chase that ends with an ambulance crash and a toll‑booth collision, allowing Garrotte to escape after striking Jake with a shovel and threatening to burn him alive.
The climactic struggle shifts to the hospital’s furnace room, where the Replicant wants to kill Garrotte but realizes he is not a killer like his counterpart. Garrotte strikes the Replicant with a shovel, prompting Jake to shoot Garrotte. The Replicant is knocked into a damaged air conditioner that explodes, and he is believed dead as Jake manages to pull him to safety. Grieved by the loss of his new ally, Jake contemplates retirement from the government project and returns to civilian life.
Weeks later, Jake is with his wife Anne Catherine Dent and stepson Danny Brandon James Olson. Jake spots a man in a raincoat placing a package in their mailbox, and the tension spikes as he wonders if Garrotte’s legacy continues. He discovers the package contains a music box—an unmistakable gift from the Replicant, a sign that their bond endures beyond the battlefield. The Replicant is shown to be alive in spirit and is moving on, dating Hooker Marnie Alton as the film closes, leaving Jake to navigate a future where both danger and connection persist.
