The Business Of Strangers

On her way from the airport to a high stakes presentation, corporate climber Julie Styron (Stockard Channing) gets a call on her mobile phone that the C.E.O. is flying in for an unexpected meeting with her. Anticipating the worst, she immediately sets up a preemptive meeting with headhunter Nick Harris to line up her next position. After steamrolling through the presentation, Julie abruptly dismisses her new assistant, young company underling Paula Murphy (Julia Stiles). When Julie returns to the airport hotel to unwind, she runs into Paula at the hotel bar and buys her a conciliatory drink. As the night progresses, the two women get to know each other, in the spa, on the dance floor at the hotel's club, over drinks from the well-stocked bar in Julie's executive suite. When Nick shows up at Julie's room for a friendly nightcap, their game takes a dark turn and he becomes the unsuspecting pawn in their complex battle of power, authority and wit.