In 1994, Paul Rusesabagina runs the Hotel des Mille Collines, a popular, European-owned establishment in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Paul is a member of the Hutus, the majority group in power, while his wife, Tatiana, is a member of the minority Tutsi group. Division between the Hutus and the Tutsis deepens after the Rwandan president is assassinated, and suddenly Paul must work harder to pacify the people he deals with for business, including goods supplier Georges Rutaganda, a member of Hutu extremist group Interahamwe. Discrimination against Tutsis ramps up, and suddenly Paul’s neighbors are being killed. Civil war ensues. As Tatiana frets over her lost brother, his wife and their two daughters, Paul maintains the illusion of a functioning hotel while harboring refugees. More people pour in from an overcrowded United Nations (UN) camp, the Red Cross, and local orphanages. Paul solicits help from Augustin Bizimungu, a corrupt Rwandan army general who takes a liking to the hotel manager. In need of supplies, Paul goes with his wayward employee, Gregoire, to meet Georges Rutaganda. On the way, they see the Hutu militia abusing Tutsi captives. Georges boasts to Paul that the Tutsi people will soon be wiped out by genocide. Paul does not believe him at first, but on his return trip he encounters throngs of murdered Tutsis on the side of the road, confirming Georges’s estimation that half the Tutsi population has already been decimated. Col. Oliver, a Canadian officer for UN peacekeeping forces, helps evacuate refugees from Rwanda but laments his inability to intervene in the genocide. Paul’s family is supposed to be evacuated by the UN, but Gregoire informs against them and an ambush forces them to retreat to the hotel. Paul tries to bribe General Bizimungu for more help, but he refuses. Paul resorts to blackmailing the general. Soon, he and his family, and the remaining refugees at the hotel, are allowed to leave in a UN convoy. Once they make it to a territory controlled by Tutsi rebels, Paul and Tatiana reunite with her nieces.