Television reporter Max Brackett is assigned to interview the curator of a museum Mrs. Banks. At the museum, Max goes to the toilet after interviewing Mrs. Banks. but, a former guard called Sam Baily appears and is armed with a loaded shotgun and dynamite and he demands Mrs. Banks reinstates him. However, Baily accidentally shoots his friend Cliff and Max hiding in the toilet manages to report the situation live on television and the museum is soon surrounded by the police and the media. Caught, Max is forced to join Mrs. Banks and a group of children whom Sam has taken hostage and Max reports the story live on TV and tries to handle the situation. But, Kevin Hollander, Max's arrogant rival sets out to bring Max down as he sets out to accuse Max of deliberately endangering the lives of the hostages and the situations gets a lot worse as Cliff succumbs to his shotgun wound and dies and the police gives Sam 5 minutes to release the hostages or they will kill him and Brackett must convince the police to put their guns down and to allow Baily to surrender and give himself up.