Plot

A conscientious police officer who investigates a violent case of domestic dispute in the squalid apartment of a drug addict has to make the most contemptible decision in his life. Just how far would a parent go to get a second chance?

How far would decent human beings be willing to go, when tragedy blurs the line between just and unjust? With "A Second Chance", Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen have crafted another startling yet moving drama about how easily we lose our grasp on justice, when confronted with the unthinkable, and life as we know it is hanging by a thread.—Anonymous

Detectives and best friends Andreas and Simon lead vastly different lives; Andreas has settled down with his beautiful wife and son; while Simon, recently divorced, spends most of his waking hours getting drunk at the local strip club. But all that changes when the two of them are called out to a domestic dispute between a junkie couple, caught in a vicious cycle of violence and drugs. It all looks very routine - until Andreas finds the couple's infant son, crying in a closet. The usually collected policeman finds himself confronted with his own powerlessness and is shaken to his core. As Andreas slowly loses his grip on justice, it suddenly becomes up to the unruly Simon to restore the balance between right and wrong. "A Second Chance" is a shocking, moving and thrilling drama about real people forced into incredible circumstances.—Anonymous

The police detective Andreas is a family man married with the unstable Anna Thomsen and they have a seven-week son called Alexander. Andreas' partner and best friend is detective Simon, whose wife has left him with their son to live with a teacher of swimming classes. Simon misses his family and particularly his son. When they are called to investigate an argument of a couple in a residential building, they meet the well known drug dealer Tristan and his wife Sannein the apartment. Andreas notes that Sanne is hiding something in a wardrobe, and when he opens it, he finds their seven-week son Sofus dirty and hungry. Andreas calls the Social Service and after the exams, they realize that the baby is healthy; therefore they can not retain the child. During the night, Andreas wakes-up with Anna crying and he finds that Alexander is dead. He wants to call an ambulance, but Anna tells that she would commit suicide and Andreas decides to swap his son per Sofus. He breaks in Tristan's apartment and swaps the babies while his parents are sleeping completely stoned. When Tristan finds the dead baby, Sanne tells that he is not her son. But Tristan buries the baby in the woods and simulates that he was abducted in a playground. Tristan and Sanne are arrested and Andreas and Simon are responsible for interrogate them. Meanwhile, Anna jumps from a bridge into a river and commits suicide. When Andreas finds the corpse of Alexander, there is an autopsy and the doctor shows the result to Andreas that is deeply affected. What could be the findings?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Leading the perfect life--with a beautiful wife, and a lovely newborn baby--the conscientious young police officer, Andreas, and his dejected partner, Simon, are called to investigate a violent case of domestic dispute in former drug addict Tristan's squalid apartment. Before a blatant instance of child abuse, a legal dead-end, and a devastating personal tragedy, Andreas will be forced to make the most difficult, and above all, the most contemptible decision in his life. Just how far would a parent go to get a second chance?—Nick Riganas

A Second Chance is a chilling, yet affecting drama about real people forced into incredible circumstances; a film that confronts our core notions about right and wrong, and those of us who think they can tell the difference; a film that forces us to ask: who are we to think we are better than anyone else? Andreas, a promising young detective, has a lot on his plate. At home, he and his wife, Anne, struggle with their new-born son, who spends every waking hour crying. At work, meanwhile, Andreas struggles to rein in his newly divorced partner Simon, who spends most of his time in strip clubs, drunkenly looking for a fight. One day Andreas and Simon are called out to a domestic disturbance. There they find Tristan, a drug dealer who has a history of violence with which Andreas is only too familiar and who has now resorted to taking his own drugs and forcing his girlfriend, Sanne, to do the same. When Andreas and Simon intervene in the couples bickering, they witness a shocking instance of neglect that sends a livid Andreas into his little familys warm embrace. Then, one night, the unthinkable happens and the little family is struck by sudden tragedy. When Andreas sees his life unravelling, he makes a choice that will lead himself and everyone he knows down a rabbit hole of moral and ethical disarray. As Andreas begins to blur the lines between right and wrong, just and unjust, it falls upon the chaotic Simon to restore the order.