John Wick (Reeves), who just lost his wife Helen (Moynahan) to cancer, receives a gift from her posthumously in the form of a puppy named Daisy, along with a letter from her saying she arranged for him to have it to help him cope with her demise. Initially indifferent to Daisy, he eventually connects to the puppy as they spend the day driving around in his vintage '69 Mustang. He encounters a trio of Russian gang members at a gas station and their leader Iosef (Allen) insists on buying his car, but John refuses to sell and makes a snide remark at Iosef before leaving. The three follow John to his home, break in at night, and attack John, who watches defenselessly as they kill Daisy before stealing his car. The following day, Iosef attempts to have the car modified by Aureilo (Leguizamo), the owner of a chop shop who refuses to take it and hits Iosef when realizing who it belonged to and what Iosef did to steal it. John subsequently visits Aureilo, who tells him Iosef is the son of Viggo Tarasov (Nyqvist), head of the Russian crime syndicate in New York and John's former employer, before lending him another car. Aureilo, who works with Viggo, is forced to explain what happened to Viggo and his second-in-command Avi (Winters), who berate Iosef, with Viggo having to explain who John Wick is: his best assassin, nicknamed the "Boogeyman", who, before retiring to care for his dying wife, helped Viggo gain control of his syndicate by single-handedly eliminating the competition. Viggo, wanting to protect his son, attempts to talk John out of seeking retribution. When John refuses to talk, Viggo sends a hit squad to John's house to execute him, but John swiftly kills the entire squad. Viggo then puts a $2 million bounty on John and first gives the offer to Marcus (Dafoe), a veteran assassin and John's mentor, who begrudgingly accepts. John subsequently seeks refuge at the Continental, a hotel that exclusively caters to assassins with the rule that no business can be conducted on premises. When Viggo learns of this, he doubles the bounty. John learns from Winston (McShane), the owner of the Continental, that Viggo has Iosef protected at his night club the Red Circle. John goes to the club and kills Iosef's friend Victor (Moore) before dispatching most of the security staff, but Iosef escapes after John is subdued by Viggo's henchman Kirill (Bernhardt). John escapes back to the Continental to treat his wounds before being attacked by Ms. Perkins (Palicki), an assassin former acquaintance of John's who had taken the contract to kill him. John eventually subdues Perkins and forces her to reveal the location of Viggo's cash stash before leaving her with a neighbor and friend Harry (Peters) to await her punishment for breaking the hotel rules. Perkins eventually breaks free and kills Harry. John goes to a church which is a front for the cash stash, eliminates all the guards, and burns Viggo's money as well as hard drives and recordings containing evidence against government officials that Viggo uses as leverage over the city. When Viggo arrives at the church, John ambushes them, eliminating more henchmen before being subdued by Kirill. John is tied up and Viggo taunts him for causing trouble over a dog and thinking he could leave his old life behind. He leaves John to be tortured and killed by Kirill and another henchman, but Marcus, having chosen to protect John, kills the other henchman, allowing John to break free and kill Kirill. John then intercepts Viggo's car and forces him to reveal Iosef's location and pull the bounty, which Viggo begrudgingly does. John goes to the safe house where Iosef is hiding and kills all of the guards before killing Iosef. Perkins sees that John and Marcus have been in contact and tells Viggo, who has Marcus tortured and killed in his home over his betrayal. Viggo contacts John about Marcus's death, luring John to his home where Perkins is waiting to ambush him. Before she can, she gets called to a secret meeting with Winston, who revokes her membership to the Continental for breaking the rules and has her executed. Winston calls John to inform him of a helicopter coming to the harbor to transport Viggo away. John races to the harbor and executes Avi and Viggo's remaining henchmen before getting into a fight with Viggo on the dock. Viggo pulls a knife on John and wounds him, but John gains the upper hand by taking Viggo's knife and stabbing him, leaving him to die. John ends up at a veterinary hospital to treat his wound before taking a dog out of one of the cages for a walk on the boardwalk where he had his last date with his wife. ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE OF 2014