The rain-soaked streets of a nameless, decaying city set the stage for Detective Lieutenant William Somerset’s final days on the job. A methodical and weary veteran with just seven days until retirement, Somerset is reluctantly partnered with Detective David Mills, a brash and idealistic newcomer who has recently relocated to the city with his wife, Tracy. The stark contrast between Somerset’s cautious pragmatism and Mills’ fiery impulsiveness becomes immediately apparent as the two are thrust into a case that will test the very limits of their morality.
Their partnership takes an unexpected turn when Tracy invites Somerset over for dinner. Amid the awkward conversation, she later confides in him that she is pregnant but hasn’t told Mills. Tracy feels trapped in the grim, unrelenting city and doubts it’s a place to raise a child. Somerset, haunted by a similar choice in his past, advises her to only share the news if she truly plans to keep the baby.
Somerset and Mills’ investigation begins with a grotesque discovery: a morbidly obese man found dead at his kitchen table, having been forced to eat until his stomach ruptured. Somerset quickly deduces the killer’s intent, linking the act to the sin of gluttony. Days later, they uncover another victim, a high-profile defense attorney forced to carve a pound of flesh from his own body, symbolizing greed. Behind a painting in the attorney’s office, they discover fingerprints that lead them to an abandoned apartment.
Inside, the detectives find a horrifying scene. A drug dealer and child molester lies emaciated, strapped to a bed, alive but barely. A year’s worth of daily photographs document his slow torture, representing the sin of sloth. The fingerprints from the lawyer’s office turn out to belong to this victim, whom the killer had methodically mutilated and left for dead.
Desperate for a lead, Somerset uses his FBI connections to track library records tied to books about the seven deadly sins. This clue leads them to an apartment rented by a man named John Doe. When they arrive, Doe suddenly appears, igniting a frantic chase through the city’s labyrinthine streets. Mills pursues Doe, falling from a fire escape and injuring his arm in the process. At one point, Doe incapacitates Mills and holds him at gunpoint before vanishing into the chaos. Inside the apartment, the detectives find shelves filled with rambling notebooks detailing Doe’s deranged worldview, alongside clues to another murder.
Their next lead takes them to a seedy motel, where they discover the aftermath of a horrifying crime. A prostitute has been brutally murdered with a custom-made bladed strap-on, forced upon her by a client at gunpoint, representing lust. The client, catatonic with guilt, recounts the horrifying details of the attack. The following day, the detectives find another victim: a model whose face has been mutilated. Given the choice to live disfigured or take her own life, she chose suicide, representing pride.
As the tension mounts, the unexpected happens—John Doe walks into the police station, covered in blood, and calmly surrenders. He offers to confess to the murders on one condition: he must personally lead Somerset and Mills to the location of the final two victims, representing envy and wrath. Somerset, suspicious of Doe’s intentions, hesitates, but Mills, fueled by anger and a need for closure, insists on going.
During the drive to the remote desert location, Doe unnerves the detectives with his calm demeanor and chilling philosophy. He speaks of his victims as sinners who deserved their fate and describes himself as a divine instrument, forcing the world to confront its moral decay. His cryptic comments about Mills add a layer of tension, hinting at a personal connection yet to be revealed.
When they arrive, a delivery van appears on the horizon. Somerset intercepts the driver, who delivers a box addressed to Mills. Opening it, Somerset recoils in horror, rushing to warn Mills to stay back. Meanwhile, Doe begins to reveal his twisted plan. He confesses that he represents envy, having coveted Mills’ seemingly perfect life with Tracy. He coldly implies that the box contains Tracy’s severed head, adding that she had begged for the life of her unborn child—a child Mills didn’t even know about.
Doe’s words push Mills to the brink. Somerset desperately pleads with him to walk away, warning that killing Doe will only fulfill his deranged plan. But the weight of Doe’s revelations is too much. Overcome by rage and despair, Mills shoots Doe repeatedly, fulfilling the role of wrath and completing the macabre tableau.
As Mills is taken away, shattered and broken, Somerset stands silently with the police captain. When asked about his future, Somerset simply says, “I’ll be around,” implying that retirement is no longer an option after what he’s witnessed.
In the film’s closing moments, Somerset’s voice overlays the haunting image of the desolate cityscape: “Ernest Hemingway once wrote, ‘The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.’ I agree with the second part.”
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