On Christmas Eve, NYPD detective John McClane

arrives in Los Angeles, intending to reconcile with

his estranged wife, Holly, at the Christmas party of
her employer, the Nakatomi Corporation. McClane is
driven to the party by Argyle, an airport limousine
driver. While McClane changes clothes, the party is
disrupted by the arrival of a German terrorist, Hans
Gruber, and his heavily armed team: Karl and Tony
Vreski, Franco, Theo, Alexander, Marco, Kristoff,
Eddie, Uli, Heinrich, Fritz, and James. The group
seizes the tower and secures those inside as
hostages except for McClane, who slips away, and
Argyle, who gets trapped in the garage.
Gruber interrogates Nakatomi executive Joseph
Takagi for the code to the building's vault and
reveals that he plans to steal $640 million in bearer
bonds, with the terrorist act merely a distraction.
Takagi refuses to cooperate and is killed by Gruber.
McClane secretly watches, but accidentally gives
himself away and escapes. He sets off a fire alarm in
an attempt to alert authorities, so Gruber sends
Tony to investigate. McClane kills Tony, pocketing
his weapon and radio, using it to contact the LAPD.
As Sgt. Al Powell is sent to investigate, Gruber
sends Heinrich and Marco to stop McClane, who
kills them both. Powell arrives and is greeted by
Eddie, posing as a concierge. Finding nothing
unusual, Powell prepares to leave, but McClane
drops Marco's corpse onto his patrol car to gain his
attention while Alexander shoots at the car from the
building with an M60 machine gun. Powell summons
the LAPD, who lay siege to the building. McClane
steals Heinrich's bag containing C-4 explosives and
detonators.
James and Alexander use anti-tank missiles to
disable a SWAT armored car before McClane drops
C-4 attached to an office chair and computer down
the elevator shaft, blowing up their floor and killing
them. Holly's coworker, Harry Ellis, attempts to
mediate between Hans and McClane for the return
of the detonators. McClane refuses, prompting
Gruber to execute Ellis. While checking explosives
attached to the roof, Gruber encounters McClane;
Gruber passes himself off as an escaped hostage.
McClane offers him a gun and Gruber attempts to
shoot McClane, but the gun is empty. Karl, Franco,
and Fritz arrive; McClane kills Fritz and Franco, but
is forced to flee, abandoning the detonators.
FBI agents take command of the siege, ordering the
building's power shut off; this, as Gruber anticipated,
disables the vault's final lock. Gruber demands a
helicopter on the rooftop for transport, but the FBI
prepare to double-cross him by sending helicopter
gunships. McClane discovers that Gruber intends to
detonate the explosives on the roof, faking the
deaths of his team so they can escape with the
bearer bonds. While making final preparations,
Gruber sees a news report by intrusive reporter
Richard Thornburg that features McClane's children
and deduces from a desk photo that McClane is
Holly's husband. The criminals order the hostages to
the roof, but Gruber takes Holly with him to use
against McClane, who in the meantime defeats Karl
in a fight before heading up to the roof, killing Uli in
the process. He sends the hostages downstairs just
as the FBI appear and start shooting at McClane,
believing him to be a terrorist. Gruber then
detonates the explosives, destroying the roof and
the FBI helicopter; McClane barely manages to
survive.
Theo retrieves their getaway vehicle but is
incapacitated by Argyle. A weary McClane finds
Holly with Gruber and his remaining men, Eddie and
Kristoff. After knocking Kristoff unconscious,
McClane confronts Gruber and is ordered to
surrender his machine gun. McClane does this to
spare Holly, but distracts Gruber and Eddie, allowing
him to grab a concealed pistol taped to his back that
contains only two bullets. McClane shoots Gruber
and kills Eddie with a single shot to the forehead.
Gruber crashes through a window but grabs onto
Holly's wrist. Gruber raises a pistol and attempts to
shoot them, but McClane removes Holly's wristwatch
and Gruber falls to his death.
Outside, McClane and Holly meet Powell. Karl
emerges and attempts to shoot McClane, but is shot
dead by Powell with his police revolver. Argyle
crashes through the parking garage door in the limo.
Thornburg arrives and attempts to interview
McClane, but Holly punches him before she and
McClane leave the area with Argyle.