Amid a battering snowstorm and unsafe road conditions, Detroit police temporarily hold formidable crime lord Marion Bishop at the soon-to-close Precinct 13 station house. Knowing that only a skeleton crew of police officers is on duty at the station, Bishop's henchmen attempt to free their boss before he can be taken to a high-security destination. They are heavily armed and determined to achieve their goal -- even if it means killing everyone in the precinct house. As the sun sets and a long night begins, a handful of policemen, led by Sergeant Jake Roenick, and prisoners awaiting relocation must band together in a battle for their very lives.