Out of Sight recap

Career bank robber Jack Foley escapes a Florida prison with help from Buddy Bragg and accidentally takes deputy U.S. marshal Karen Sisco hostage. Confined together in a car trunk, fugitive and marshal develop an immediate attraction that persists after Foley releases her. Foley, Buddy, and unreliable escapee Glenn Michaels head to Detroit to steal diamonds from Richard Ripley, a wealthy former inmate who advertised his hidden fortune in prison. Violent criminal Maurice Miller is targeting the same house. Karen follows the case to Detroit and meets Foley privately at a hotel, where both temporarily set aside the pursuit. The rival crews converge at Ripley's home. Foley kills Kenneth to protect the housekeeper and kills Maurice in the final confrontation; another robber dies through his own recklessness. Karen then shoots Foley when he will not surrender and arrests him. She accompanies his prison transport and places him beside a seasoned escape artist, leaving their pursuit and mutual fascination open beyond his capture.

Career bank robber Jack Foley is serving a lengthy sentence at a Florida prison and knows that another conviction could end any realistic hope of freedom. Buddy Bragg organizes an escape, but deputy U.S. marshal Karen Sisco happens upon it while visiting the institution. Foley takes Karen's weapon and brings her into the getaway car's trunk with him while Buddy drives. In the cramped darkness, Foley and Karen speak with an intimacy at odds with their positions as fugitive and marshal. Foley neither harms nor crudely threatens her, but she makes clear that she remains a law officer studying her captor and waiting for an opening.

Foley and Buddy get clear of the prison and release Karen rather than keeping a hostage. Fellow escapee Glenn Michaels attaches himself to them, though neither older man fully trusts his judgment. Karen returns to the investigation with Foley's voice and manner fixed in her mind. Her father, Marshall Sisco, recognizes both the professional danger and her unusual interest in the man. Foley reconnects with his former wife Adele and considers his limited choices. Instead of disappearing quietly, he is drawn toward one more lucrative robbery, a possibility based on information shared in prison.

The proposed target is Richard Ripley, a wealthy Detroit businessman who once served time and boasted to other inmates about uncut diamonds hidden in his home. Foley and Buddy travel north, with Glenn hoping to participate. They learn that Maurice Miller, a violent Detroit criminal Foley knew in prison, is also planning to invade Ripley's house with his own armed crew. Foley wants the score but dislikes Maurice and understands that the other group's methods could turn theft into murder. Karen follows the escape case and the leads around Foley, moving closer to Detroit while deciding how much of her fascination is useful instinct and how much is personal.

In Detroit, Foley and Karen become aware of each other outside the simple chase. They meet in a hotel bar without pretending not to know who the other is. For one night they set aside the arrest and the escape, acting on the attraction that began in the trunk, though neither imagines that their official roles have permanently changed. Afterward Karen resumes the hunt and Foley resumes planning the Ripley robbery with Buddy. Glenn drifts toward Maurice's crew and exposes more of the competing plan. The approaching break-in now threatens to put Foley inside a house with criminals whose appetite for violence he does not share, while Karen is close enough to intervene.

Maurice brings Kenneth, Bob, and the rest of his crew to Ripley's home, expecting to force the owner to reveal the diamonds. Foley and Buddy also move on the house, accepting that the rival robbery cannot be avoided. Ripley and his housekeeper Midge are placed in immediate danger as Maurice's men search and threaten. Karen and other officers close in through the connections among the escaped prisoners and the Detroit target. Foley's interest in the diamonds is increasingly overtaken by the need to control men who treat the occupants as disposable. The robbery becomes a test of whether he can remain merely a thief once armed violence begins around him.

The home invasion disintegrates. Bob dies through his own reckless handling of a firearm. When Kenneth attacks Midge, Foley shoots him, choosing to protect her rather than preserve solidarity with the robbers. Foley then kills Maurice in the final armed confrontation. Karen reaches the house and faces Foley after the other immediate threats have fallen. Their night together does not change her duty or his refusal to submit: when he will not surrender cleanly, she shoots him in the leg and arrests him. Buddy escapes, while Foley is returned to federal custody facing another long sentence. Karen accompanies the prison transport and arranges for Foley to ride beside an inmate with a history of ingenious escapes. Foley recognizes that his capture may not be the absolute end of their pursuit, and their attraction remains bound to the contest between escape and arrest.

Foley and Buddy enter Ripley's house while Maurice Miller's more violent crew is carrying out the same robbery. The invasion rapidly collapses: Bob dies through his own mishandling of a gun, and Foley shoots Kenneth to stop his attack on Midge. Foley then kills Maurice during the final armed confrontation. Karen arrives with law enforcement and finds Foley still inside. Their attraction does not erase their opposing roles; she shoots and wounds him when he refuses to surrender cleanly, then takes him into custody. Buddy gets away, but Foley faces another long federal sentence. Karen remains personally interested in him and arranges to accompany his prison transport, where he is placed with a man known for escaping custody. Foley ends the book captured yet attentive to the possibility that Karen has deliberately left the future less final than an ordinary arrest would make it.