Corporate climber Julie Styron (Channing) expects the worst when her boss calls her up and announces he is flying out to meet her at an anonymous airport hotel.

Anticipating the sack, she immediately sets up a pre-emptive meeting with oily headhunter Nick Harris (Weller) to line up her next position.

However, the unplanned visit from the top man goes a little bit better than she expected - he tells her he wants her to run the company. In celebratory mood, she hits the anonymous hotel bar and proceeds to raise the share prices of Dewars Whisky a couple of points.

As she mellows out, she spots her erstwhile technical assistant Paula (Julia Stiles) sitting alone. The reason she is erstwhile is because Styron sacked her over a botched presentation.

Flushed by her good news, Styron apologises, admits she acted hastily and offers her her old job back as the two settle down for a drink. As they unwind Harris who, like Paula, has been delayed by the flight, joins them... but Paula seems strangely cool to the reptilian job broker.

This feature debut of writer/ director Stettner carefully puts together a compelling study of the complex dynamics of power in the world of big business. Styron's character is quickly but effectively painted in - she's a company trailblazer who's got where she is at the cost of relationships and her health.

Paula is a sly, manipulative youngster who challenges the traditionally corporate-thinking Styron on an intensely personal level. Over the course of the night Harris provides the catalyst Paula uses to coerce the outwardly confident Styron to question her own life-changing decisions.

It's a cool, calculated movie, making full use of superbly impersonal locations and packing a real emotional punch as Paul twists and turns the tables on the susceptible Styron.