Retired schoolteacher Eloise Parker lives by herself in Massachusetts, but she has a tenant in her barn, Adam Clay, living a quiet life as a beekeeper. One day, Eloise falls for a phishing scam and is robbed of over $2 million, the majority of which belongs to a charity organization she manages. Devastated, she dies from suicide. Clay finds her body and is immediately arrested by FBI agent Verona Parker, Eloise’s daughter. After Eloise’s death is ruled a suicide, Clay is released. Verona tells him the group that robbed Eloise has been on the FBI’s radar for a while but is difficult to track. Wanting justice for Eloise, Clay contacts the Beekeepers, a mysterious group, to find the scammers responsible.
Clay receives an address for the scammers: a call center run by Mickey Garnett. Clay scares off the employees and destroys the building. Garnett informs his boss, technology executive Derek Danforth, who sends Garnett to kill Clay. A violent confrontation ensues where Clay kills Garnett’s men and severs Garnett’s fingers. Garnett calls Danforth while stopped at a bridge, informing him that Clay is a Beekeeper. Having followed Garnett, Clay drags him off the bridge with a truck to his death and warns Danforth that he is coming after him.
Danforth informs former CIA director Wallace Westwyld, who is currently running security for Danforth Enterprises at the request of Derek’s mother, Jessica, about Clay. Concerned, Wallace contacts the current CIA director in hopes of stopping Clay. The director contacts the Beekeepers and learns that Clay has retired from the organization. The Beekeepers subsequently declare neutrality after Clay kills the current Beekeeper Anisette Landress sent to kill him. Meanwhile, Verona and her partner, Matt Wiley, anticipate that Clay will deliver an assault on the Nine Star United Center in Boston, which oversees all of Derek’s global scam call centers. After informing FBI Deputy Director Prigg that Clay is a Beekeeper, they receive all the support they ask for.
Wallace coordinates a group of ex-special forces personnel, revealing to them that the Beekeepers are a highly skilled and dangerous clandestine human intelligence organization tasked with protecting the United States, operating above and beyond governmental jurisdiction. To have a chance at stopping Clay, Wallace orders the group to secure the inside of the Nine Star Building, while the FBI places their own SWAT team around the perimeter. Danforth’s decision to not evacuate the employees enables Clay to quickly defeat the FBI SWAT team and infiltrate the building. After wiping out all of Wallace’s ex-special forces group, Clay proceeds to interrogate the manager, who reveals that Danforth is his boss.
Verona informs FBI Deputy Director Prigg that Danforth runs both companies, which several US government agencies use. Verona also brings up the point that not only will Clay attempt to kill Derek, but he may also kill Jessica, the president of the United States, due to her association with the scam. As Clay eludes capture, Wallace advises Derek to stay with his mother under Secret Service protection.
At the president’s beachside mansion, Wallace hires a group of mercenaries, one of whom previously had an encounter with a Beekeeper and lost his leg. Clay infiltrates the mansion, while Jessica learns the truth from Prigg about Derek’s exploitation of a CIA program during her presidential campaign. Jessica decides that when Clay approaches, she will tell him and the world the truth about Derek’s use of the program. Enraged, Derek kills Prigg and takes his mother hostage. Clay fights his way to the president’s office, killing the mercenaries in the process. Wallace talks to Clay to persuade him to turn away at the last moment but fails. Clay eventually reaches her office, being quickly joined by Verona, Matt, and the rest of the FBI agents.
Verona tries to dissuade Clay from killing Jessica and Derek. Derek attempts to kill his mother, but Clay kills him first and escapes through a nearby window and onto the beach. Despite Verona having a clear shot, she decides not to shoot Clay. He flees with the aid of the underwater gear he had hidden on the beach.