After the boss (Willem Dafoe) of a Chicago-based headhunter, Dane Jensen (Gerard Butler), who works at the Blackrock Recruiting agency arranging jobs for engineers, retires, Jensen finally achieves his longtime goal of taking over the company after going head-to-head with his ambitious rival, Lynn Vogel (Alison Brie). However, upon taking over the company he worked so hard to be in control of, Dane's 10-year-old son, Ryan (Max Jenkins), is suddenly diagnosed with cancer and his professional priorities at work and personal priorities at home begin to clash with one another.