To his friends and loved ones, John J. Anderson (Robert Duvall) leads the life of a man who gets by doing a little of this and a little of that. In reality he is a highly skilled assassin for hire. His method is up close and personal, with one shot from a handgun the size of a fist, bringing a life to a quick end. By creating a diversion around the hit, he quickly escapes.

John is romantically involved, in love with Maggie (Kathy Baker) and he is enchanted with her young daughter Jenny (Katherine Micheaux Miller), in an infatuated, fatherly way. She’s the daughter he always wanted but never was close to having. John and Jenny are at Frankie’s dance hall, where he finally talks her into showing off their style on the dance floor. Later, he tucks her into bed with the type of kiss that fathers always remember their little girls by.

He goes to South America on his next mission, and equally as important as a clean and quick kill is to be back in New York City in three days so he won’t miss Jenny’s birthday party. John is not about politics, as he says, "There’s two sides to every story." All he wants to do is literally execute his job, get paid and arrive home safely as scheduled.

A family in Buenos Aires, who was the victim of retired General Humberto Rojas’s (Elvio Nessier) ruthlessness, wants revenge. They have gone through a third party who hired John to assassinate the General.

Things run smoothly until the General has a horseback riding accident, that results in him being delayed returning home. To pass the time, John uses his love of dance to learn about the tango. Although he has true passion for Maggie, he’s not above spending the night with a prostitute, to make up for the desire stirred in him by sexy tango dancer Manuela (Luciana Pedraza). She keeps him at a respectful distance. To John, she’s a potential lover who happens to be his dance instructor. To Manuela, he is an interesting student, an older man from the States of North America.

John is a one-step-ahead type of guy, who has the sixth sense to know when things are going "too" smooth. He senses that there is something going on which might ensnare him. He completes the job though, and when the military clamps down dragnet style, the only way for him to escape and make it back to NYC (with a skyline featuring the World Trade Center), is to find a way to pull an Osama Bin Laden disappearing act.

Pedraza and Duvall are real life lovers, and as the director of the film Duvall felt that his nepotism was in order because he needed someone who could act and do the tango. Luciana’s tango dancing is exquisitely sexy but her acting and screen presence seem a little naïve for a woman who is clearly not a shrinking violet. She did not stir the passion in George that first time actors did in the films "City of God" or "Rabbit Proof Fence."

We complain about films following a formula but expected events allow us to relax and be entertained. We know that John may or may not be caught after his mission has been accomplished. Is there a message on morality here and if so, what is it? Most often the pacing is deliberate, like that of "In the Bedroom" or "The Hours." At other times, it’s the quick action of the deal going down as someone is being permanently taken to a place where the lights go out and never come back on because of "one shot."

A romantic story, entwined with an assassin who loves the passion of the tango, provides a film that is enjoyable, and shows us that some movies can be both fun to watch and even better to think about after leaving the theater.