Walter Mitty is a negative assets manager at Life magazine living alone in New York City. He chronically daydreams and has a secret crush on Cheryl Melhoff, a coworker. Walter attempts to contact Cheryl via eHarmony, but eHarmony customer service agent Todd Mahar explains that Walter's account profile is not filled out completely: the "been there" and "done that" sections are blank. Walter works with legendary photojournalist Sean O'Connell, although they have never met in person. Sean is "old-school", working with analog film and later sending a telegram. At work, Walter receives a negative roll from Sean, as well as a wallet in appreciation of Walter's work. Sean relays to Walter and Life management that he believes negative #25 captures the "quintessence of life" and should be used for the cover of the magazine's final print issue before it becomes digital. However, the negative #25 is missing. When Ted Hendricks, the obnoxious manager of the magazine's transition, asks to see #25, Walter stalls, worried about being fired. He then asks Cheryl for help in contacting O'Connell. Walter looks to the other negatives for clues to Sean's location – water, a thumb, and a mysterious curved object. Walter and Hernando, his assistant, see a reflection in the water, which is the name of a ship registered in Greenland. Walter reluctantly takes a plane to Greenland. A bartender in Nuuk explains that Sean left on a ship. To reach him, Walter would need to go on the postal helicopter, whose pilot is drunk. Walter recognizes the pilot's thumb from one of the negatives and joins the pilot on a trip to bring supplies to the ship. Walter accidentally jumps into ice-cold, shark-infested waters, losing the ship's supplies and preventing radio communication when he comes aboard. There, Walter learns that Sean departed the ship a few days earlier and discovers from notes on wrapping paper for a clementine cake Sean left behind that he is heading to Iceland to photograph the volcano Eyjafjallajökull. The ship brings Walter to Iceland. He then bikes, skateboards, and runs through the Icelandic countryside to find Sean but misses him as the volcano erupts. Dejected, he returns home. Hendricks assumes that Walter misplaced the negative and fires him. He tries to visit Cheryl but spots her ex-husband and leaves. Walter visits his mother and throws away the wallet from Sean. He recognizes the curve of the piano in his mother's house while looking at the last negative. When asked, she tells Walter that she baked him the clementine cake. She had told him earlier, but he was daydreaming. Walter figures out from the notes that Sean is in the Afghan Himalayas. After an arduous journey, he finds him photographing a rare snow leopard. When asked about the negative, Sean explains that, attempting to be playful, he had placed the negative in the wallet. He decides not to tell Walter what the picture actually depicts. When Walter returns to America, the airport security in Los Angeles detains him for arriving from Afghanistan. To verify his identity, Walter calls the only person he knows in Los Angeles: Todd, from eHarmony, who has kept in contact during Walter's travels. Todd expresses admiration for how adventurous Walter appears. Walter receives the wallet from his mother, who had retrieved it from the trash, and obtains the negative but chooses not to look at it. Emboldened, he delivers it to Life ' s offices and berates Hendricks for disrespecting the staff. Walter reunites with Cheryl and thanks her for inspiring him on his journey. Cheryl asks about his adventures and tells him that her ex-husband had only been at her house to help with repairs. Walking along the street, they see the final print issue on sale at a newsstand, and on its cover, they see the photograph from #25. It shows Walter sitting outside of the Life building, examining a contact sheet; the magazine is dedicated to Life ' s staff, and Sean's note referred to "quintessence of Life ". Walter and Cheryl continue their walk holding hands.

In contemporary Russia, Ivan and his older brother Andrei have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. Both their mother and grandmother live with them. After running home after a fight with each other, the boys are shocked to discover their father has returned after a 12-year absence. With their mother's uneasy blessing, Ivan and Andrei set out on what they believe will be a simple fishing vacation with him. Andrei is delighted to be reunited with their father and Ivan is apprehensive towards the man whom they know only from a faded photograph. At first, both brothers are pleased with the prospect of an exciting adventure, but they soon strain under the weight of their father's awkward and increasingly brutal efforts to make up for the missing decade. Ivan and Andrei find themselves alternately tested, rescued, scolded, mentored, scrutinized, and ignored by the man. Andrei seems to look up to his father while Ivan remains stubbornly defensive. As the truck stops and cafés give way to rain-swept, primeval wilderness coastline, Ivan's doubts give way to open defiance. Andrei's powerful need to bond with a father he's never known begins, in turn, to distance him from Ivan. For his part, Ivan resents his father's test of will. Eventually, the tension between them escalates into bitter hostility after the trio arrives at their mysterious island destination. At first, the three of them are busy settling in. The father wants to show the island to the two boys. Ivan and Andrei are keen to collect worms (as bait) in order to go fishing. Meanwhile, without telling the two boys, their father heads inland to an old, derelict house. Between the collapsed walls of the house, with a shovel, the father starts digging a deep pit. At the bottom of the pit, there is a large trunk. The father opens it. He takes out what looks like a strongbox, which appears to be heavy. Without opening the mysterious box and without checking its content, the father returns to the shoreline with it. Out of sight of the two boys, he places the strongbox inside a compartment under one of the wooden seats, on the small boat that brought them to the deserted island. The two boys re-appear and are ready to go fishing. Their father lends his wristwatch to Andrei and lets them go away from the shore, in the boat, to enjoy some fishing. But the two boys return much later than had been agreed and their father gets angry. He focuses his anger on Andrei, the elder, as he was notionally in charge of the fishing party. Ivan has an outburst of rage after witnessing his father strike Andrei. He shouts at his father, runs into the forest, and climbs to the top of the observatory tower. Andrei and their father run after him. The father tries to reason with Ivan, but this only stresses Ivan further. He then threatens to jump down from the top of the tower. The father tries to reach out to him, but falls to his death. Ivan and Andrei take the body across the forest, bring him on board the boat, and row back to where they came. While the boys are putting their gear in the car, the boat starts to drift away. Andrei screams, "Father!" and starts running towards the shore, followed by Ivan, but it is too late. The boat and the body are sinking. Unbeknown to the two boys, inside the boat is the strongbox. Ivan screams "Father!" for the last time from the bottom of his heart. The boat sinks to the bottom of the lake, with the father's corpse and the strongbox in it. The two boys get into the car and drive away. The film ends with photographs from their journey; since the father does not appear on any of them, there is no proof that Andrei and Ivan went on a trip with him.

On Walter Sparrow's birthday (February 3), his wife Agatha gives him The Number 23, a book by Topsy Kretts, as a birthday present. Walter starts reading it and notices similarities between himself and the main character, the detective " Fingerling ". Fingerling is obsessed with the 23 enigma, the idea that all incidents and events are connected to the number 23. Walter too becomes obsessed with the number and attempts to uncover the mystery of the book's author, but he cannot find any information. Walter's son, Robin, is interested in the enigma too, but Agatha dismisses it as superstition. In the book, Fingerling discovers that his lover, Fabrizia, is having an affair and stabs her to death. The police arrest her lover because he found her body and picked up the murder weapon, assuming it was a type of sexual roleplay. Fingerling then prepares to commit suicide by jumping from a hotel balcony, and the book ends abruptly. Walter later learns of Laura Tollins, a murder victim whose body was never found, and whose murder is similar to Fabrizia's death. Walter believes that the man who was sent to prison for Laura's murder, Kyle Flinch, wrote the book. In prison, Walter visits Flinch, who denies killing Laura or writing the book. Robin discovers an address hidden in the book and they hope that it will lead them to the book's true author. When Walter confronts the man, Dr. Sirius Leary, he commits suicide by cutting his own throat. Before dying, Leary tells Agatha to go to a now-abandoned mental institution that he used to work at. At the institute, Agatha discovers a box with Walter's name on it. Walter discovers a code in the book that tells the reader the location of Laura's body. Walter and Robin find the skeleton, but when they return with the police, the skeleton is missing. After seeing Agatha washing mud off her hands, she admits that she moved the skeleton. Walter accuses her of being Topsy Kretts. However, Agatha says that Walter was really the one who wrote the book. Agatha shows Walter the box from the institute that has his name on it. Inside, Walter sees the sources he used to write the book, and begins having flashes of repressed memories. In room 23 of the hotel in the book, Walter finds the missing final chapter of the book scribbled under the wallpaper. Walter used to be obsessed with the 23 enigma because it drove his father to suicide. He was also involved with Laura, who left him for Flinch, resulting in him killing her. After Flinch was sent to prison for the murder, Walter wrote the book in the room as an elaborate suicide note, changing the details of his confession into a deranged fantasy. Walter then jumped off the balcony, but survived. The resulting brain damage left him with amnesia, and he was sent to the institute to recover, and met Agatha after being released. Dr. Leary, one of Walter's doctors, read the book and became obsessed with the number, eventually publishing the book under the name Topsy Kretts. Agatha arrives, and tells Walter that he has changed, which is why she hid the skeleton. Convinced that he will kill again, Walter attempts to commit suicide by running into the path of a bus. However, Walter does not go through with it, not wanting Robin to lose a father like he did, and exclaims that 23 is just a number. Walter turns himself in to the police for the murder of Laura. While he awaits sentencing, his lawyer says that the judge will go easy on him because he confessed. Walter declares that this is not the happiest ending, but it is the right one, and expresses hope that things will return to normal for his family once he is released from prison. Laura's body is laid to rest in the cemetery, and Flinch is present, having been released from prison and now at peace. The credits begin with a Bible verse (Numbers 32:23), which reads: "Be sure that your sin will find you out."

Abby, an American, has moved to Tokyo to be with her boyfriend Ethan, and meets British expatriate Charlie and American hostess Gretchen. Ethan breaks up with her before leaving for Osaka, and a heartbroken Abby visits a nearby ramen shop run by chef Maezumi and his wife Reiko, who do not speak English. Abby does not understand Japanese, but the chef kindly brings her a bowl of ramen. Loving the meal, she hallucinates the shop's maneki-neko beckoning to her, and Maezumi and Reiko refuse to let her pay. The next day, Abby returns to the shop, where she and another patron break into uncontrollable giggles as they eat. Coming back the following day, she insists on helping an injured Reiko serve customers. When the night is through, Maezumi and Reiko find Abby asleep in the back and shoo her out, but she realizes she wants to learn the art of ramen. Rushing back, she begs Maezumi to teach her, and he reluctantly agrees. He treats her harshly, hoping she will quit, but she perseveres and charms the customers as the shop's new waitress. After her constant voicemails for Ethan go unanswered, Abby enjoys a rare night off with Charlie and Gretchen, and strikes up a connection with Toshi Iwamoto. The chaotic Gretchen comes to stay with Abby, who bonds with Toshi over the unexpected directions their lives have taken, and he and Abby enjoy a date at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum. When Maezumi's rival Udagawa brags that a Grand Master chef will soon determine if his son is worthy of carrying on the family ramen tradition, Maezumi drunkenly declares that Abby will be tested as well. Fed up with Maezumi's treatment, Abby questions him about the collection of letters and photos she has seen him cry over. He storms off, and Reiko explains that the mail is from their son Shintaro, a chef in Paris, whom Maezumi has not spoken to in five years since he left for France. Toshi reveals his job is sending him to Shanghai for the next three years, and asks Abby to come with him, but she chooses to stay. Insisting that Abby's cooking has no soul, Maezumi brings her to his mother, who tells her, in Japanese, that she must cook from the heart; Abby confesses that she has been unlucky in love, leaving only pain, and Maezumi's mother suggests putting her tears in her ramen. Abby prepares her broth while crying, and serves it to a table of regular customers, inspiring tearful reactions from everyone who tastes it, including Maezumi. The Grand Master arrives, and after a few sparing bites of the ramen prepared by Udagawa's son, gives him his blessing. At Maezumi's shop, the Master heartily enjoys Abby's unconventional "Goddess Ramen", but tells her that she needs more time and restraint and he cannot give his blessing. Disappointed after almost a year of training, Abby commiserates with Maezumi, who tells her that he felt he would never have a successor after his son chose to study French cuisine instead. Deciding to close his shop after forty-five years, he declares that she is his true successor. Abby soon leaves for America, as the entire neighborhood bids her goodbye, and Maezumi gives her the lantern that hung outside his shop. A year later, Toshi has quit his job to pursue his passion for writing music, and reunites with Abby at her own ramen shop in New York City, "The Ramen Girl", with a framed photo of Maezumi and Reiko happily visiting their son in Paris, and the lantern hanging outside.

In 2005, Steve Lopez is a journalist working for the Los Angeles Times. He is divorced and now works for his ex-wife, Mary, an editor. A biking accident lands Lopez in a hospital. One day, he hears a violin being played beautifully. Investigating, he encounters Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless man with schizophrenia, who is playing a violin when Lopez introduces himself. During the conversation that follows, Lopez learns that Ayers once attended Juilliard. Curious as to how a former student of such a prestigious school ended up on the streets, Lopez contacts Juilliard but learns that no record of Ayers graduating from it exists. Though at first figuring a man with schizophrenia who's talented with a cello isn't worth his time, Lopez soon realizes that he has no better story to write about. Luckily, he soon learns that Ayers did attend Juilliard, but dropped out after two years. Finding Ayers the next day, Lopez says he wants to write about him. Ayers doesn't appear to be paying attention. Getting nowhere, Lopez finds and contacts Ayers' sister, who gives the columnist the information he needs: Ayers was once a child prodigy with the cello, until he began displaying symptoms of schizophrenia at Juilliard. Unable to handle the voices, Ayers dropped out and ended up on the streets due to the delusion that his sister wanted to kill him. Without a cello, he has resorted to playing a two-string violin. Lopez writes his article. One reader is so touched that she sends a cello for Ayers. Lopez brings it to him and Ayers shows he is just as proficient as with a violin. Unfortunately, his tendency to wander puts both Ayers and the cello in danger, so Lopez talks him into leaving it at a shelter, located in a neighborhood of homeless people. Ayers is later seen playing for the homeless. A concerned Lopez tries to get a doctor he knows to help. He also tries to talk Ayers into getting an apartment, but Ayers refuses. After seeing a reaction to music played at an opera house, Lopez persuades another friend, Graham, a cellist, to rehabilitate Ayers through music. The lessons go well, though Ayers is shown to be getting a little too attached to Lopez, much to the latter's annoyance. Lopez eventually talks Ayers into moving into an apartment by threatening to abandon him. Through Lopez's article, Ayers gains so much fame that he is given the chance to perform a recital. Sadly, he loses his temper, attacks Graham, and leaves. This convinces Lopez's doctor friend to get Ayers help. But when Ayers learns what Lopez is up to, he throws Lopez out of his apartment and threatens to kill him. While speaking with Mary, Lopez realizes that not only has he changed Ayers' life, but Ayers has changed his. Determined to make amends, Lopez brings Ayers' sister to L.A. for a visit. Ayers and Lopez make up. Later, while they all watch an orchestra, Lopez ponders how beneficial their friendship has been. Ayers still hears voices, but at least he no longer lives on the streets. In addition, Ayers has helped improve Lopez's relationship with his own family. It is revealed at the end that Ayers is still a member of the LAMP Community – a Los Angeles nonprofit organization that seeks to help people living with severe mental illness – and that Lopez is learning how to play the guitar.

In 1958, 15-year-old Michael Berg becomes sick on a tram ride in an unnamed provincial city. He is helped by 36-year-old tram conductor Hanna Schmitz. Weeks later, Michael has recovered from scarlet fever and at his mother's insistence, he visits Hanna with flowers to thank her for her help. They proceed to have a secret summer love affair, and Hanna often asks Michael to read to her. They have a brief cycling holiday in the country where Michael starts to notice some oddities in Hanna's behaviour. However, as their sexual relationship deepens it grows more tumultuous, when his attempts to form a deeper connection are rebuffed by her secretive nature. As a good reliable worker, Hanna is soon promoted, whereupon she abruptly quits without explanation. Michael visits Hanna to apologize following an argument, but is utterly befuddled and devastated to find her apartment vacant. In 1966, Michael is a student at Heidelberg University Law School and observes a war crime trial of several former female SS guards accused of letting 300 Jewish women and children perish in a burning church during a death march near Kraków in Poland. Michael is horrified to learn Hanna is one of the defendants. Survivor Ilana Mather provides testimony, including that Hanna forced some of the prisoners to read to her. Hanna admits that she and the co-defendants each chose ten women monthly for extermination at Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland. Ilana's mother Rose testifies that when the church caught fire during a bombing, the guards refused to unlock the doors. The official SS report stated the guards did not know about the fire until the following day. Hanna reveals the guards in fact kept the doors locked so that the prisoners could not escape. Hanna's co-defendants all state she was in command and wrote the report. Hanna denies this, insisting they agreed on the contents of the report together. When the lead judge asks for a handwriting sample, Hanna quickly condemns herself by admitting she authored the report alone. Recalling their time together, Michael is initially confounded by her testimony, finally deducing that Hanna is deeply ashamed of being illiterate. Michael informs his law professor, who states that Michael should inform the court. Deeply conflicted, Michael attempts to visit Hanna in prison, but changes his mind. Hanna receives a sentence of life imprisonment, while her co-defendants are sentenced to just over four years each. Michael attempts to move on, though haunted by the memories of a relationship that he cannot put to rest. He marries and has a daughter, however, Michael cannot commit fully to the relationship and grows distant from his family, culminating in divorce and estrangement from his daughter, Julia. Throughout the 1980s, Michael records himself on tape reading various books and regularly mails them to Hanna. Borrowing the same books from the prison library, Hanna slowly teaches herself to read and write. She starts writing to Michael, but he never replies. In 1988, a prison official requests Michael's help with Hanna's parole as he has been the only person outside prison to have had contact with her. Michael finally visits Hanna, revealing in the stilted reunion that he has secured her a residence and a job. When Michael arrives for Hanna's release, he is told she hanged herself in her cell and left a crude will asking Michael to give her money to Ilana Mather. Michael finds Ilana in New York City, revealing his connection to Hanna and its long-lasting impact. He tells Ilana about Hanna's illiteracy, but she rebuffs this and refuses to forgive Hanna. Michael gives her Hanna's tea tin filled with cash, but Ilana refuses the money. He suggests it be donated to a Jewish literacy organization in Hanna's name and Ilana agrees. She keeps the tin, placing it next to a photograph of her deceased family. The film ends in 1995 with Michael driving Julia to Hanna's grave, telling her their story.

Rama, a rookie MBC officer, joins a 20-man squad led by Sgt. Jaka and Lt. Wahyu for a raid on an apartment block with the intent of arresting Tama Riyadi, a crime lord. Together with his lieutenants Andi and Mad Dog, Tama runs the block and allows criminals and addicts to rent rooms under his protection. Arriving undetected, the team sweeps the first floor and subdues various tenants; they also meet a law-abiding tenant Gofar delivering medicine to his sick wife. Continuing to the sixth floor, the team is spotted by two young lookouts, and after one of whom is shot, the other raises the alarm. Tama calls in reinforcements, including a pair of snipers, who pick off the officers guarding the block's exterior and a group of gunmen, who destroy their SWAT vehicle. Taking advantage of the chaos outside, Tama's men set themselves free and regain control of the first five floors. Tama cuts the lights and announces over the PA system that the rest of the officers are on the sixth-floor stairwell and that he will grant free permanent residence to those who kill them. Wahyu confesses to Jaka that he staged the mission to eliminate Tama, who is in league with corrupt police officials, including himself; the mission is not officially sanctioned by the police command and there will be no reinforcements. The remaining team members are ambushed by gunmen from above and almost completely wiped out. The remaining officers – Rama, Bowo, Jaka, Wahyu, Dagu, Alee, Hanggi and another officer – retreat to an empty apartment and are cornered by more armed thugs. Rama uses an axe to create a hole in the floor so the team can descend to the lower level. Dropping to the room below, the team struggles to fend off Tama's thugs; Alee, Hanggi, and the unnamed officer are killed and Bowo is gravely wounded. Rama uses a propane tank and a refrigerator to construct an improvised explosive device that kills the invading henchmen. With more of Tama's reinforcements approaching, the team splits into two groups: Jaka, Dagu and Wahyu retreat to the fifth floor, while Rama and Bowo ascend. As Rama and Bowo travel through a hallway to locate Gofar in room #726, they get ambushed by Tama's men rushing out of their apartments. After Rama defeats all of the attackers, he picks up Bowo (who killed an incapacitated thug while crawling towards the end of the hallway), and reaches Gofars apartment. Gofar reluctantly hides the officers inside. A five-man gang, wielding machetes, search the apartment, but cannot find them. After tending to Bowo's wounds, Rama leaves to search for Jaka's group. Rama encounters the machete gang and defeats them in a long fight, tackling their leader through a window and plummeting onto a fire escape below. On the sixth floor, Rama finds Andi, who has murdered two of Tama's men. Andi is revealed to be Rama's estranged elder brother. Rama actually signed up for the mission to search for Andi, at the urging of their father. Rama refuses to leave the building without his comrades and Andi refuses to abandon his criminal life. Rama parts ways with his brother to search for his surviving colleagues. Mad Dog discovers Jaka and his group on the fourth floor. Wahyu runs off and Jaka instructs Dagu to protect him. Mad Dog challenges Jaka to hand-to-hand combat. Mad Dog ultimately gains the upper hand and kills Jaka by breaking his neck. He then meets with Andi to report back to Tama. Tama, having learned of Andi's treachery through his surveillance cameras, attacks and incapacitates Andi. Rama regroups with Dagu and Wahyu and they head for Tama on the 15th floor, fighting through a narcotics lab along the way. Rama separates from Dagu and Wahyu when he discovers Mad Dog torturing Andi. Mad Dog lets Rama free Andi and fights them. After a brutal fight, Rama and Andi kill Mad Dog. Meanwhile, Wahyu and Dagu confront Tama, and Wahyu kills Dagu before taking Tama hostage. Tama taunts Wahyu by revealing that he knew they were going to raid the building. Wahyu was set up by his corrupt superior Reza and that he will be killed regardless of whether he escapes. A panicked and desperate Wahyu kills Tama and attempts suicide, only to find he is out of bullets. Andi uses his influence to allow Rama to leave with Bowo and Wahyu. Andi also hands over blackmail recordings Tama made with the corrupt officials, telling him to contact Bunawar. Rama asks Andi to come home, but Andi refuses and asserts that he can protect Rama in the underworld, but Rama cannot do the same for him on the outside. As Rama, Bowo and Wahyu leave, Andi turns around and walks back to the apartment block, smiling.

In 1977 Los Angeles, Holland March is a private eye hired by Mrs. Glenn to find her niece, porn star Misty Mountains, who she claims to have seen after her death. March's investigation leads him to Amelia Kuttner. A fearful Amelia pays Jackson Healy, a violent enforcer, to scare March away. After visiting March at his home and breaking his arm, he accepts a Yoo-hoo from March's teenage daughter, Holly, as he leaves. When Healy returns home (with a case of Yoo-hoo), he is interrogated by two thugs, "Blueface" —so named after he sets off a dye pack while searching Healy's apartment—and Older Guy, about Amelia. Believing Amelia is in danger, Healy wards them off and teams up with a reluctant March to find her. The duo visit Amelia's anti-pollution protest group and meet Chet, who brings them to the burnt-down house of Amelia's boyfriend Dean, who died in the fire. They learn that Amelia and Dean were working with Misty on an "experimental film" combining pornography and investigative journalism. The two infiltrate a party to search for the film's financier, Sid Shattuck. At the party, Healy discovers the film is missing, while March stumbles upon Shattuck's dead body and crosses paths with Amelia. Holly, having snuck along to the party, stops Blueface from killing Amelia. Blueface is struck in a hit-and-run and Amelia flees. Healy subdues Older Guy and finds Blueface dying. Blueface tells Healy that his boss has dispatched a hit man named John Boy to kill all witnesses. Healy discreetly kills Blueface by strangling him. The police arrive at the scene. March and Healy are met by Amelia's mother Judith Kuttner, a high-ranking official in the Justice Department. Judith claims Amelia is delusional and hires them to find her, for which March demands US$5,000 in payment. March and Healy go to an airport hotel where Amelia is meeting with distributors for the film. However, John Boy has arrived ahead of them and is slaughtering the distributors. The duo hastily retreat, only for Amelia to land on their car and accidentally knock herself unconscious. They take her to March's house, where she accuses her mother of colluding with car makers to suppress the catalytic converter, which regulates exhaust emissions. Amelia created the film to expose their collusion and believes her mother has been killing everyone connected to the film. A disbelieving March calls Tally, Judith's assistant, and tells her Amelia has been found. Tally tells him the family's doctor will arrive to check on Amelia. At the same time, she tasks them with delivering a briefcase of money to Judith. March accidentally crashes his car during the delivery, causing the briefcase to fly open, spilling out shredded paper; the delivery was really a diversion to draw them away from Amelia. John Boy arrives at March's house disguised as the family doctor, attacks Holly and her friend Jessica, and engages in a shootout with the returning March and Healy. As John Boy evades the police, Amelia flees the house and unwittingly flags down his car only to be shot and killed. The police question and release March and Healy, who have no evidence that Judith is behind the murders. March realizes that Mrs. Glenn saw Misty in a film projected against a wall. At Misty's house, they discover a film projector, with no film. They realize that Chet is the projectionist for the Los Angeles Auto Show and will try to screen the film at the event. At the auto show, Tally intercepts Healy and March at gunpoint. Holly distracts Tally, who is knocked unconscious. Amelia's film, which Chet spliced into the auto show presentation, implicates the auto executives. On the rooftop, March struggles with Older Guy; they both fall from the roof, but March lands in the pool while Older Guy falls to his death. Holly stops Tally from reaching the film. Healy overpowers John Boy, but spares his life at Holly's behest and March secures the film from thugs sent by the auto executives. Judith is arrested, but insists that it was Detroit who wanted Amelia dead; she hired March and Healy to keep Amelia safe. Judith remarks that while she will go to prison, Detroit has still gotten away with trying to suppress the catalytic converter. At a bar on Christmas Eve, March shows Healy an advertisement for their new detective agency called "The Nice Guys".

In 1962, during the Cold War, Elisa Esposito works as a janitor in a secret government laboratory in Baltimore, Maryland. Found abandoned by the side of a river as an infant with scars on her neck, Elisa is mute and communicates through sign language. Her only friends are her closeted middle-aged neighbor Giles, an advertising illustrator, and her coworker Zelda. Colonel Richard Strickland has captured a creature from a South American river and taken it to the facility for study. Elisa discovers it is a humanoid amphibian, and bonds with the creature after visiting him in secret. Seeking an advantage in the Space Race, Strickland persuades General Frank Hoyt to vivisect the Amphibian Man to examine his respiratory system. Scientist Robert Hoffstetler, a Soviet spy, pleads with Strickland to keep him alive for further study, while being ordered by his handlers to kill the creature. Giles reluctantly agrees to help Elisa free Amphibian Man after failing a work assignment and being rejected by a local restaurant manager whom he discovered was both racist and homophobic. Hoffstetler and Zelda also become involved in the plot and successfully get the Amphibian Man to Elisa's apartment. Elisa keeps him in her bathtub, planning to release him into a nearby canal when heavy rain allows access to the ocean. When Giles tries to stop the Amphibian Man from devouring one of his cats, his arm is slashed and the Amphibian Man flees. Elisa coaxes him back to her apartment and the creature touches Giles on his balding head and wounded arm. The next morning, Giles discovers his hair is regrowing and the wounds on his arm have healed. Elisa's infatuation with the Amphibian Man culminates in sexual intercourse. General Hoyt gives Strickland an ultimatum to recover the Amphibian Man or his career will be over. Hoffstetler is told by his handlers he'll be extracted from the US in two days. The Amphibian Man's health begins to deteriorate. Strickland follows Hoffstetler to a meeting with his handlers where Hoffstetler is shot. Strickland intervenes, shooting the handlers, then tortures the dying spy into revealing the Amphibian Man's whereabouts. Strickland confronts Zelda in her home and her husband reveals Elisa has the Amphibian Man. Zelda warns Elisa to release the creature before Strickland can arrive. He ransacks Elisa's apartment and finds evidence of the creature in the bathtub and a calendar note revealing where she plans to release him. "Unable to perceive the shape of You. I find You all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with Your love. It humbles my heart. For You are everywhere." Elisa and Giles are bidding farewell to the creature at the canal when Strickland arrives, knocks Giles down, and shoots both the Amphibian Man and Elisa. Giles and Strickland fight while the Amphibian Man heals himself, then fatally slashes Strickland's throat. As the police arrive with Zelda, the Amphibian Man jumps into the canal with the unconscious Elisa and kisses her. When he uses his healing power again, the scars on her neck open to reveal gills. The now-amphibious Elisa revives and embraces him.

In Los Angeles, cashier Audrey Stockman spends her birthday upset after her boyfriend Drew dumps her. Her best friend and roommate, Morgan Freeman, convinces her to burn his things and texts him beforehand as a warning. Audrey has no idea Drew is a government agent being pursued by men trying to kill him. He promises to return and asks her to not torch anything in the meantime. At work, Audrey flirts with a man who asks her to walk him to his car. Forced into a van, the man identifies himself as Sebastian Henshaw. He reveals that Drew works for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and has gone missing. Audrey claims not to have heard from him and is let go. Drew shows up for his possessions, including a fantasy football trophy. People begin shooting at them and he tells Audrey that, if he dies, she must go to a certain café in Vienna and give the trophy to his contact. Drew is then shot by a man Morgan had taken home from a bar, whom she then pushes off the balcony. Morgan convinces Audrey to go to Vienna. At the café, Sebastian appears and demands the trophy at gunpoint. Audrey reluctantly hands it over before the entire café is attacked. The friends flee, chased by men on motorcycles. Audrey reveals that she still has Drew's trophy as she had switched it with one of several decoys they had purchased for such an event. Boarding a train to Prague, they discover Drew's trophy contains a USB card. Morgan calls her parents, who tell her they can stay in Prague with their family friend, Roger. Audrey and Morgan get to the apartment, but discover "Roger" is actually a spy who drugged them and killed the real Roger. Morgan tries to swallow the flash drive. After that fails, Audrey tells their captors that she flushed it down the toilet. The ladies wake up in an abandoned gymnastics training facility, about to be tortured by Nadejda, a Russian gymnast, model, and assassin trained by the older couple who had previously masqueraded as Drew's parents. Audrey and Morgan are rescued by Sebastian, who defied orders to save them. He brings them to his boss in Paris, where they once again tell the CIA and MI6 that the drive was flushed. The women are given tickets to go back to America, while Sebastian is suspended. Driving back to the airport, Sebastian explains that Drew's "parents" are actually notorious criminals. Drew was discreetly negotiating with them on the sale of the USB card, and Audrey was part of his cover. Audrey confesses that she had actually hidden the drive in her vagina. When Sebastian cannot decrypt the information on the card, Morgan calls her old Summer camp friend Edward Snowden for assistance; he helps them hack it. The trio travel to a hostel in Amsterdam, where they are attacked by Sebastian's CIA partner Duffer, who plans to sell the drive himself. They are rescued by their hostel roommate, who thinks they are being robbed and body slams Duffer to his death. Audrey answers Duffer's phone when it rings and agrees to sell the drive at a private party in Berlin. To get into the buyer, Audrey and Sebastian disguise themselves as the Canadian ambassador and his wife, while Morgan joins the Cirque du Soleil crew. Sebastian is attacked and Morgan is confronted by Nadejda on an acrobat swing, eventually killing her. Meanwhile, Audrey meets her mysterious contact and finds Drew, who is still alive and searches through her purse for the USB. Sebastian arrives, held hostage by Drew's "parents". After a standoff, Drew's "parents" are shot, leaving Sebastian and Drew, who accuse each other of trying to hurt Audrey. Drew then shoots Sebastian, and Audrey pretends to be glad before grabbing his gun. When he tries to attack her, she kicks him in the groin. Once he is on the ground, Morgan throws a cannonball at him. Drew is arrested, and Audrey, Morgan, and Sebastian escape. Sebastian later gives Morgan his untraceable phone to let her parents know she is alive. As she's talking, Sebastian's boss calls to lift his suspension. Morgan begs her for a job as a spy. Meanwhile, Sebastian and Audrey kiss. A year later, while celebrating Audrey's birthday in Tokyo, her party is revealed to be a ruse, as it's actually an assignment with Sebastian to stop a group of Japanese Yakuza gangsters.

A man named Goreng awakens in a cell numbered 48. His cellmate Trimagasi explains that they are in a tower-style holding facility. Once per day, food arrives on "the platform" that lowers from level 0, stopping for two minutes on each level. Prisoners can only eat while the platform is stopped on their level, and are subjected to fatal temperatures if they keep any food. Prisoners are randomly reassigned to a new level each month. Trimagasi reveals that when assigned to level 132, he and his former cellmate cannibalized someone. One day, a woman named Miharu rides down the platform, whom Trimagasi explains regularly descends the pit to search for her child. Goreng explains that he volunteered to spend six months in the facility in exchange for a diploma, while Trimagasi confides that he is serving a year-long sentence for manslaughter. The following month, they are reassigned to level 171. Trimagasi ties up Goreng and explains his plans to feed himself using Goreng's flesh. When he begins cutting into Goreng's leg, Miharu arrives, attacks Trimagasi, and frees Goreng, who kills Trimagasi. Encouraged by Miharu, Goreng eats Trimagasi's flesh and subsequently becomes haunted by hallucinations of Trimagasi. The next month, Goreng wakes on level 33 with a woman named Imoguiri and her dog, Ramesses II. Imoguiri was the administration official who interviewed Goreng before sending him to the pit, having admitted herself after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Imoguiri only eats every other day, letting Ramesses II eat on the days that she does not, and tries unsuccessfully to convince the pair below them to ration their food. One day, Miharu arrives injured. Goreng and Imoguiri nurse her back to health. That night, Goreng breaks up a fight between Miharu and Imoguiri to then discover that Miharu has killed Ramesses II. After Miharu leaves, Goreng mentions her child to Imoguiri, who says there are no children in the pit and Miharu came alone. The following morning, Goreng wakes to find that they have been reassigned to level 202 and that Imoguiri has hanged herself. He consumes her flesh, plagued with hallucinations of his former cellmates. The next month, Goreng is assigned to level 6. His new cellmate, Baharat, is a religious man who has been attempting to escape the pit for months. Estimating that there are 250 levels, Goreng convinces Baharat to ride the platform down with him and ration the food. They forbid anyone on the first fifty levels to receive any, arguing that they get to eat every day, and fend off those who defy them. Fellow prisoner Sr. Brambang advises them that civility is more effective than violence and convinces them to send a symbolic message to the administration by leaving a single panna cotta untouched. As they descend further, they hand out portions to the prisoners, attacking those who refuse to cooperate. They encounter Miharu being attacked and try to save her, but she is killed and they are both left severely injured. Goreng and Baharat continue to descend, eventually stopping at level 333, where Goreng notices a child whom he deduces is Miharu's daughter. They get off the platform, letting it continue downward, and reluctantly feed the girl the panna cotta. That night, Baharat shakes Goreng awake and tells him, "The girl is the message." Goreng awakens, revealing this encounter to have been a dream, and finds that the real Baharat has bled to death. Goreng and the girl ride the platform to the very bottom level. Goreng once again hallucinates Trimagasi, who encourages him to get off the platform. Goreng insists that he has to ride the platform back up to the top, as he is the bearer of the "message," but Trimagasi replies, "The message requires no bearer." Goreng gets off the platform and the two walk away, watching as the child ascends.

In early 2009, Senator Dianne Feinstein selects Senate staffer Daniel J. Jones, who has just spent two years investigating the 2005 destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, to lead a review of six million pages of CIA materials related to the agency's use of enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs). Jones and his team of six get to work in a sensitive compartmented information facility at a covert CIA site in Virginia. Intelligence psychologists Bruce Jessen and James Elmer Mitchell were contracted in 2002 to instruct the CIA in EITs. They started their work on Abu Zubaydah, for whom the FBI initially used the CIA rapport-building, where they started using EITs. Jones learned from an FBI agent that he gathered crucial intelligence from Zubaydah before the CIA took over the interrogations, though the agency claims that most valuable intel came from EITs. He shows evidence from the CIA's own records that prove that the agency falsely claimed that Zubaydah was a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda to received authorization to start using EITs on him. A physician assistant with the Office of Medical Services who works at a CIA black site secretly reveals to Jones that he and other medical professionals had complained that the EITs were torture. However, they only got told to stop putting their objections in writing by the Director. Among files provided by the CIA, Jones finds the Panetta Review, a critical internal CIA review of the EIT program that was prepared in 2009 but never shared. A pundit on the news later claims that EITs had yielded good intelligence and prevented terrorist attacks. Jones stays up all night to disprove the claims, and the CIA's own records show that crucial information it is claiming to have obtained by subjecting a terrorist to torture was obtained by other means. Jones finishes the 6,200-page report, and it is approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Feinstein, on December 13, 2012, and sent to the CIA for final comments. Two months later, John Brennan is sworn in as the new director of the CIA. Brennan sets up meetings with CIA personnel and Jones to try to get the committee to change elements of the report. However, Jones repeatedly provides evidence to back up everything they want to change. Feinstein decides to stop this discussion with the CIA and keep the report as it is. Frustrated, Jones reveals the Panetta Review to Senator Mark Udall of the Intelligence Committee. During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the nomination of the CIA general counsel, Udall asks why both the committee's reports and the Panetta Review conflict with the CIA's official position. The CIA, humiliated by Udall's revelation, conducts an illegal search and threaten to prosecute Jones for "stealing" the Panetta Review from the CIA's computers. Jones hints the search to the New York Times national security reporter, which ultimately leads Feinstein to formally accuse the CIA of unlawfully searching the Senate's computers in violation of the separation of powers. Brennan and the CIA are forced to back down, and the charges against Jones are dropped. Feinstein tells Jones that she is prepared to release a shorter summary of the report, but President Barack Obama grants the CIA broad authority to redact it first. When it becomes uncertain if the released document will have any useful information after redaction, Jones again meets with the Times reporter, but ultimately decides not to leak the report to the media. The Republican Party wins control of the Senate in the November 2014 midterm elections, meaning that the report will likely be buried forever when the new Congress is sworn in January 2015. Faced with this deadline, the Senate agrees to release the summary of the report. Feinstein gives a speech summarizing the report and its implications, and then Senator John McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, gives an impassioned speech supporting the report. Jones leaves his job as a Senate staffer after the report summary released. No CIA officers are criminally charged in connection with the actions outlined in the report, with many promoted, and one later becomes the agency director.