Plot

A young man with teleportation abilities suddenly finds himself in the middle of an ancient war between those like him and their sworn annihilators.

David Rice is a high school student in Ann Arbor, abandoned by his mother at five years old, and living with his callous, alcoholic father. He is enamored with Millie, a fellow student, and picked on by at least one classmate. On a winter's day, while about to drown, he discovers he can transport himself instantaneously to any place on Earth. He runs away from home, goes to New York City, robs a bank vault, and comes to the attention of a shadowy group of government hunters. Eight years later, the hunters, led by the murderous Roland, get a fix on David. He heads home, seeks out Millie, and invites her to travel with him. Only later does he realize that Roland and his crew are seriously deadly. Is everyone close to David in danger?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Twenty-something David Rice has known for eight years since he was a teenager in high school in Ann Arbor, that he could teleport himself to anywhere in the world at any time, this skill which he stumbled upon at a most opportune time. He honed his abilities so that he could get away from his high school bullies and his alcoholic single father - his mother who abandoned them when David was five - by stealing money to live a lavish, adventurous, new life in New York City, with everyone from his old life believing him dead. He returns to Ann Arbor to reconnect with his high school friend/crush, Millie Harris, and give her the travel adventures she always wanted. He does so as he values his life even more now after discovering that someone is after him and seemingly trying to kill him; that person who knows that he is a "jumper". David learns that he is not alone, that there are fellow jumpers in the world, who are at war with this man, Roland, and his well-organized, high tech and motivated group of religious fanatics, the Paladins, who believe jumpers are an aberration to be destroyed. David may be further illuminated about his situation by someone from his distant past. He also quickly figures out that bringing Millie back into his life has placed her in mortal danger. Although he doesn't want to tell her the entire truth, David also has to decide if telling her the truth would be a safer option for her than not.—Huggo

David Rice lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was left by his mother when he was five years old. The teenage David does not have a good relationship with his father, and he has a crush on his schoolmate Millie Harris. When David gives Millie a snow globe with the Eiffel Tower, the bully Mark Kobold throws it onto a frozen river. David tries to retrieve the object, but the ice shatters and David falls under the ice. Suddenly, he teleports himself to a library and discovers that he has the ability to jump anywhere he wants. He decides to run away from home, moving to New York, and uses his power to rob a bank vault. Eight years later, David is living in a fancy apartment in New York and having a life full of adventure, traveling to the most exotic places in the world. He decides to visit Millie in Ann Arbor and invites her to visit Rome. While in the Coliseum, David meets the jumper Griffin, who explains that the dangerous Roland Cox and his team of paladins are chasing him, and his family and friends are in danger.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, teenager David Rice (Hayden Christensen) gives his crush, Millie (Annasophia Robb), a snow globe containing the Eiffel Tower, knowing her dreams of traveling someday. A bully, Mark (Jesse James), throws the globe onto the ice near a river. While trying to retrieve it, David falls through the ice and is pulled away by the current. He suddenly finds himself in the local library with drenched clothes. He discovers he can "Jump", or Teleport, disappearing from one place and instantly appearing in another. Unhappy with his life, he runs away and is believed dead by his alcoholic father.

Eight years later, an adult David (Hayden Christensen) has settled into a life of adventure. He spends his days jumping around various continents, doing various sports and living lavishly using money stolen from banks via his jumping abilities. We also see him observing a natural disaster on the TV news, but not even consider using his power to save the people. After a day of hedonistic jumping, including seducing and sleeping with a woman in London, he is ambushed in his home by Roland Cox (Samuel L. Jackson). Cox tries to trap him with a system of high-voltage cables, which prevent him from being able to jump. David escapes and returns home to Ann Arbor, seeking the now adult Millie (Rachel Bilson). He is attacked by Mark (Teddy Dunn) and purposely Teleports him into a bank vault. He leaves him there and returns to Millie, inviting her to travel with him (by conventional means) to Rome. Roland - who we see heads an organization dedicated to killing these "abominations" because "only God should have the power to be everywhere" - later discovers Mark in police custody and so learns David's identity.

David and Millie arrive in Rome, David attempting to keep his true nature as a thief and his power a secret from her. After talking, they have sex. David and Millie visit the Colosseum, only to find it closed. David uses his ability to unlock a door from the inside, telling a skeptical Millie the door was already unlocked. While opening another door, he discovers another Jumper, Griffin (Jamie Bell). He warns David that "Paladins" are coming - an extremist group which has been tracking down and killing Jumpers from "the beginning". Several Paladins show up and attack them. Griffin kills one and Teleports, taking the body with him. David tries to leave with Millie but is detained by Italian police and questioned about the death. While waiting for a magistrate to arrive, David's mother Mary (Diane Lane), who had left David when he was five, appears and throws him the keys to his handcuffs. She tells him he has very little time to leave. David tries to follow her, but she says if he wants the girl to live, he must leave now. David tells Millie the police let him go and they leave together. Millie, now very suspicious, demands the truth. David declines and puts her on a plane home.

David jumps to Griffin's lair, asking where to find Roland. Griffin explains that Paladins are religious fanatics who believe Jumpers are an affront to God and have been hunting them for centuries. He also says that Paladins will kill Jumpers by targeting their loved ones. He has been trying to kill Roland for years, as the Paladins killed his parents when he was a child and have tried to kill him several times. David Teleports to his father, finds him bleeding and Teleports him to a hospital. He returns to Griffin and convinces him to go with him to the airport to greet Millie.

Upon arriving, they realize her flight landed an hour earlier. Griffin returns to his lair to get weapons while David searches for Millie. He breaks into her apartment, angering Millie, who tells him to leave. Through the living room window David sees Roland arriving and shows her what he can do, and saves her, by Teleporting her back to Griffin's lair. The Paladins follow using a machine that keeps the "jump scar" (wormhole) open and fight with David and Griffin. Roland is chased back through the portal, but snatches Millie back to her apartment with a cable.

Griffin decides to take a bomb to Millie's apartment and kill everyone. David refuses, wanting to save Millie. They fight through several locations, and David traps Griffin with power lines in Chechnya, while there is an ongoing battle between Russian troops and Islamic militants. Griffin warns that if he faces the Paladins alone, he will be outnumbered. He goes anyway and is quickly trapped by Roland's electric cables. David cannot escape as he is physically tied to the apartment by the cables. Using his Teleporting powers David separates the apartment from the rest of the building and Teleports that section away, along with Roland, Millie and himself, back to the river into which he fell through the ice as a child. Once free of the cables (while still underwater) David Teleports to the library with Millie, as well as an unwelcome Roland. David then grabs Roland and takes him to a cave in the Grand Canyon, abandoning him there, and telling him that he could have had him killed instead.

David visits his mother and is stunned when a girl, his half-sister, Sophie (Kristen Stewart), answers the door. Mary tells David she has known he was a Jumper since he was five, when Jumpers make their first Jump. She is a Paladin and had to either kill David or leave. She again allows him to leave, allowing him a "head start". He meets with Millie outside, and they jump to an unknown location.