One night, a thief fleeing through Georgetown in Washington, D.C., is shot by a man carrying a briefcase. A deliveryman who witnesses the incident is also shot by the killer and is left in a coma. The following morning, a young woman is killed by a Washington Metro train in what seems to be suicide.
Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is distraught to hear that the woman was Sonia Baker, a researcher on his staff. Collins, who has military experience, is leading an investigation into PointCorp, a private defense contractor with controversial operations involving mercenaries.
Collins tells his college roommate and old friend Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe), an investigative reporter, that he had been having an affair with Sonia and that she had sent him a cheerful video message on the morning of her death, which he says is inconsistent and unusual behavior for someone about to commit suicide.
Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), a reporter and blogger with the online division of Cal's newspaper and its editor, Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren), discover that Sonia's death occurred in one of only three CCTV blind spots in the Metro camera system. Cal believes the shootings are related to Sonia's death and finds a link between the thief and a homeless girl who sought out Cal. The girl gives him photographs that the thief, a friend of hers, had stolen from the killer's briefcase. The photos show surveillance images of Sonia talking to a well-dressed man. Della visits the hospital where the deliveryman is regaining consciousness and witnesses his murder by an unseen sniper. Later, she reviews CCTV footage and recognizes a man she saw at the hospital.
It is later revealed that PointCorp stands to gain billions of dollars annually from its mercenary activities in the Middle East and domestically. Cal speaks with Collins, who shares his research findings: PointCorp is cooperating with other defense contractors to create a monopoly and purchase government surveillance and defense contracts, essentially privatizing United States security. Cal's PointCorp insider returns with the address of someone linked to the suspected assassin. Cal finds the assassin living there and calls the police, who force the man to disappear after he shoots at Cal.
Della, following a lead, finds the identity of the well-dressed man who was speaking to Sonia in the listed photographs. He is Dominic Foy (Jason Bateman), a PR executive working for a subsidiary of PointCorp. Cal blackmails Foy into talking about his activities with Sonia and secretly tapes their conversation. He reveals that Sonia was being paid to spy on Collins and to seduce him to get information for PointCorp, but she fell in love with Collins and was pregnant with his child when she was killed.
Before Cal's newspaper goes to press, Collins goes on record to present his research into PointCorp, talks about his affair with Sonia, and states his belief that PointCorp is behind Sonia's death. Afterward, Collins's estranged wife Anne (Robin Wright), whose conversation with Cal seems to imply a past love triangle dating back to their college years, casually reveals to Cal that she knows the amount of money Sonia received from PointCorp, after hearing Collins's statement to the newspaper. Later when talking with Della, Cal remembers that they never told Collins the specific amount of money Sonia was being paid by PointCorp. Cal realizes that Collins knows much more about Sonia's involvement with PointCorp and wonders if Collins himself is connected with Sonia's assassin. A picture of Collins from his military days, with the assassin in the frame, confirms Cal's hunch. Collins reveals that he had been suspicious of Sonia, and that he hired the assassin to watch her. The assassin is U.S. Army corporal Robert Bingham (Michael Berresse), whose life Collins had once saved. Collins says that Bingham hated PointCorp more than he did, and that he killed Sonia with no authorization.
Cal tells Collins that he has three minutes to leave his office before the police arrive, as he has already contacted them. As he leaves the building, Cal is confronted by Bingham. Officers arrive and shoot Bingham before he opens fire. Back at the offices later that night, Cal types up the story, noting that Collins was secured and arrested. He puts Della first on the byline and lets her submit the story for publication.
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