John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington), who is not rich, is a factory worker who works hard. In order to support his family, the couple's relationship has become increasingly indifferent, causing their marriage to be on the verge of collapse. To make matters worse, misfortune befell their 9-year-old son Michael. One day, Michael suddenly fainted on the baseball field. When John Q sent his son to the hospital, he learned that his son suffered from severe congenital heart disease and needed a heart transplant to save his life. The high cost of the operation far exceeded his medical insurance coverage. After several unsuccessful communications, John Q decided to remove them from the list of transplant recipients. This move angered John Q as a father. He angrily broke into the emergency room of the hospital with a gun, kidnapped innocent medical staff and patients as hostages, and demanded that the hospital perform surgery on his son immediately. This battle of humanity that challenges morality and law is not as simple as imagined...