 In Colombia, terrorist Luis Cali has taken over the Palace of Justice. Luis throws a woman off a balcony to her death and dumps a judge from a helicopter in order to make his point. Luis is angry because the US government has kidnapped his drug kingpin father Enrique Cali and transported Enrique to the USA to stand trial. The Regis School, in Virginia, is a boarding school where the wealthy dump their delinquent teenagers when they ve been kicked out of everywhere else. These troubled heirs are presided over by their superiors -- Dean Parker and the headmaster. Phil Donoghue, one of the students, is the son of the federal judge who is presiding over Enrique s trial. A pair of deputy United States Marshals take Phil out of the school so Phil and his family can be placed somewhere safe while judge Donoghue presides over the trial. When Luis later takes the school hostage, looking for Phil and demanding Enrique s release, problem student Billy Tepper and his friends Joey Trotta, Hank Giles, Ricardo Montoya, Jonathan "Snuffy" Bradberry, and Derek decide to fight back against Luis. Snuffy s father Steven is the chairman of the First Empire Bank of New York, and vice chairman of the republican party. Hank s father is representative Henry Giles Jr, chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Joey s father is New York mob boss Albert Trotta. Ricardo s father is a senior partner at an elite law firm, and is a former president of the California Bar Association, and Billy s father is the owner of the third largest construction company in the world. Luis has had his men place explosives all over the school, and Luis has vowed that he ll blow the place up if Enrique is not released.