Road to Perdition is the story of a man on the road to redemption as well as perdition. Michael Sullivan Sr. (Tom Hanks) is the enforcer for John Rooney (Paul Newman), who heads up an Irish-American organized crime syndicate. Unfortunately for Sullivan on one of his assignments for Rooney, his son Michael Jr. finds his way to the scene of the enforcing and becomes a witness to the crime syndicate's activities. Sullivan is forced to choose between Rooney, who has become like his father, and his son and embarks on a bittersweet journey to escape from the clutches of the life that he has lived. On their journey they attempt to gain freedom from the mob and also to escape a killer sent to track them down named Harlen Maguire (Jude Law) Sullivan's only hope on the road to Perdition, Illinois is that his son will not follow in the footsteps of his father.