In the not too distant future, a young man, Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke), dreams of escaping from Earth and rocketing into outer space.  But Vincent is genetically flawed--he's got a bum heart and a life expectancy of just 30 years--in a world where such human frailty is no longer the norm and no one's about to waste precious resources on an astronaut with less than an optimal genetic profile.  In order to get around his all too human limitations, Vincent swaps genetic profiles with Jerome Morrow, (Jude Law), a genetically-designed and nearly perfect young man, embittered by the accident that left him wheelchair bound.