Gluttony. Greed. Sloth. Pride. Lust. Envy. Wrath. 

In an unidentified city rife with urban and moral decay, two homicide detectives, retiring veteran William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and newly transferred David Mills (Brad Pitt), hunt for a serial killer who meticulously stages each murder based on one of the seven deadly sins. The unlikely partners—Somerset, steady, calm, weary of the horrors of the city, Mills, young, impatient, cocky—must try to sort through the killer's cryptic methods and intricately concealed clues as the elusive John Doe stays one step ahead. The investigation reaches a series of dead ends until Doe inexplicably turns himself in with two murders yet to go before he completes his "masterpiece." With limited screen time, the chillingly matter-of-fact John Doe makes an indelible impression.