John Hobbes (Denzel Washington) is a homicide detective, who just brought a serial killer named Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas) to justice. Hobbes is present during the execution and doesn’t pay too much attention to a final message Reese leaves. Shortly after the execution, murders are reported, that seem to be very similar to Reese’s killings. They even frame John Hobbes as a suspect. Now it is up to the detective to find out what is going on. During his investigation he realizes that something evil is passing from person to person and a connection is being suspected between the evil happenings and the cursed angel Azazel.