When someone hacked into the computers at the FBI's Cyber Crime Division which occurs at the middle

of the night on a holiday weekend; the Director decides to get all the hackers who could have done this system break down. When he's told that it's the 4th of July most of their agents are not around they will have trouble getting people to get the hackers which consist of a thousand names. And so he instructs them to get local PD'S to take care of it and so one of the cops they ask is John McClane who is tasked with bringing a hacker named Farrell to the FBI. Hacker Matt Farrell, not knowing who he is working for, finishes work on a computer program and sends it to the villains, who advise her boss, Thomas Gabriel, that they can go onwith their evil plan. The criminal mastermind begins killing the hackers he hired by exploding their computers by means of a virus he has implanted. But then when they try to kill Farrell John was already there, a group of men try to kill John and Matt, who had successfully escaped. A group of terrorists led by Thomas Gabriel are systematically shutting down the United States computer infrastructure, crash the stock market, intercepted America's economy as well as sabotages the network of traffic signals. That led the whole country chaotic. Gabriel broadcasts a message threatening the nation, using spliced video clips of the last twelve presidents, and then sabotages the nation's financial systems this all made possible by a simple click in the keys of their computer. Farrell and McClane are directed by the FBI to the Department of Homeland Security so that Farrell can be interrogated while they are on their way, Gabriel begins intercept their radio communication by Gabriel, who direct them to an ambush and a set upon by helicopter. McClane and Farrell escape on foot, but as they try to contact the FBI via

cell phone, they discover that Gabriel has also sabotaged the telecommunications networks. Farrell admits that he innocently wrote some code that may be being used in this computer attack, which appears to be a three-stage plan to cripple the United States, beginning with attacks on its transportation and financial infrastructures. The third stage will be to take out the power grid; this cannot be done remotely but requires intervention at the actual physical plants. Farrell confesses that he had always viewed hacking as harmless pranks, but is now horrified by the actual damage and suffering caused; he reconfigures the cell phone to use a different network to allow them to communicate. Farrell and McClane decide to visit "The Warlock" (Kevin Smith) in Baltimore, who Farrell describes as an "Internet Jedi." The Warlock lives in his mother's basement where he has set up his own "command center" -- an impressive collection of computers running on his own generators, interspersed with geek memorabilia. The Warlock is suspicious of the police, but reluctantly agrees to help. He reveals that Gabriel was formerly a highly-placed FBI computer security director, responsible for building much of the system, who discovered its vulnerabilities to attack. When Gabriel brought these vulnerabilities to the attention of his supervisors, ultimately interrupting a meeting of the Joint Chiefs to do so, he was denounced and publicly humiliated. The Warlock tells Farrell that he has been examining the type of code he was hired to write, and that it is only being used at one facility - the one in Maryland, which is still running and drawing massive power loads. Gabriel is alerted to Warlock's intrusions; he traces the intrusion back to Warlock's basement command center, and commandeers Warlock's computer and web cam to communicate with McClane.

Gabriel wants John and Matt out of the way, and for John, the situation becomes personal when an enraged Gabriel kidnaps John's daughter Lucy, who is a student at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Gabriel may think he now has the upper hand on John, but he has no idea how far John is willing to go to rescue Lucy. McClane and Farrell head to the data facility, but Gabriel is alerted to their presence. Farrell is subsequently captured by Gabriel's thug and brought to the control center where Lucy is also captive. Gabriel tells McClane that his epitaph will read "Always in the wrong place at the wrong time." McClane replies that it might read "Yippee ki yay, mother-" and pulls the trigger, shooting himself through the shoulder and killing Gabriel. Farrell has grabbed McClane's gun and shoots the other thug. The FBI arrive and provide medical attention to McClane, Lucy, and Farrell. Farrell and Lucy separately indicate to McClane their romantic interest in each other