During a commencement gala at the newly opened Los Angeles headquarters of Nakamoto, a Japanese keiretsu, a call girl, Cheryl Lynn Austin, is strangled while having rough sex on the boardroom table. LAPD Lieutenant Webster "Web" Smith and John Connor, a former police captain and expert on Japanese affairs, are sent to act as liaison between the Japanese executives and the investigating officer, Smith's former partner Tom Graham. During the initial investigation, Connor and Smith review surveillance camera footage, and realize that one of the discs is missing. Smith and Connor suspect Eddie Sakamura, Cheryl's boyfriend and agent of a Nakamoto rival, of killing her, and interrogate him at a house party. Sakamura promises to bring Connor something, and Connor reluctantly lets him go after confiscating his passport. Ishihara, a Nakamoto employee whom Connor had previously interrogated, delivers the missing disc, which clearly shows Sakamura having sex with Cheryl and strangling her. Graham and Smith lead a SWAT raid on Sakamura's house. He tries to flee in a Vector W8 sports car, but crashes and is killed. Smith learns that Sakamura had attempted to contact him about the missing disc, so he and Connor take the disc to an expert, Jingo Asakuma, who reveals that the disc has been digitally altered to implicate Sakamura. Nakamoto is in the midst of sensitive negotiations for the acquisition of an American semiconductor company, with Senator John Morton, a guest at the party, abruptly changing his stance on a bill that would prevent the merger from going through. Suspecting his sudden shift is somehow related to the murder, Connor and Smith attempt to interview him at his campaign office, but without success. Upon returning to Smith's apartment, the duo find Sakamura alive and well. He reveals that he was being tailed that day by Tanaka, a Nakamoto security agent attempting to locate the original disc. Not wanting to be seen with Sakamura, Tanaka stole his sports car and committed suicide by crashing it. Sakamura gives Connor the original disc, but before he can leave, Lt. Graham arrives with Ishihara. Sakamura is killed fighting off Ishihara's men, and Smith is shot and left for dead, surviving only thanks to a bulletproof vest. After being interrogated, Smith is put on paid leave due to an ongoing investigation of an earlier corruption charge. Regrouping with Connor and Jingo, the three view the original surveillance footage, which shows Senator Morton having sex with Cheryl and performing erotic asphyxiation on her. Falsely believing he killed her, Morton changes his position on the regulation bill to stay in Nakamoto's good graces. After leaving the boardroom, the footage shows another figure approaching and killing Cheryl by strangulation. Hoping to draw the killer out, Connor and Smith fax Morton stills of the footage showing his involvement in the murder. Morton contacts Ishihara, revealing the executive to be in on the cover-up, and then Morton commits suicide. Connor, Smith, and Jingo interrupt the merger negotiations to show Nakamoto President Yoshida the surveillance footage. Bob Richmond, an American lawyer working for Nakamoto, reveals that he is the real killer and tries to run away, only to be killed by Eddie Sakamura's yakuza friends. Yoshida maintains his and his colleagues' innocence, quietly exiling Ishihara to a desk job back in Japan. Smith drives Jingo home, where she casts doubt on whether Richmond was really the murderer, or if he was simply taking the fall to protect someone higher up in the company.

Sometime in the future, Earth has been ravaged by pollution, natural disasters and rising sea levels, making it largely uninhabitable. A woman (Emelie Garbers) works on board the Aniara, a luxurious spaceship that takes passengers from Earth to Mars in three weeks. Her job involves working as a "Mimarobe" within the Mima, an artificial intelligence designed to evoke the viewers' experiences of Earth's lush, verdant past through a totally immersive virtual-reality experience that taps into the participants' memories and emotions. In the first week of the Aniara ' s voyage, the ship suddenly veers off course to avoid a collision with space debris. Some of the debris pierces the hull and hits the ship's nuclear reactor, setting off an imminent meltdown and forcing the crew to eject all of the ship's fuel. This results in the ship having no navigational control, no propulsion, thus no ability to resume its original course. Captain Chefone promises the passengers and crew that they will be able to resume the trip to Mars once the ship passes a celestial body, which should happen in no more than two years. The Mimarobe's roommate, the ship's astronomer, later reveals to her that this is a lie and that there is no possibility of resuming their course. Soon, the Mimarobe finds her usually unimportant job becoming more popular and necessary than ever, as passengers use the Mima as an escape from their current situation. After three years, the Mima becomes one of the most important functions necessary to keep calm on board the ship. With so many people bringing their memories of Earth's decline to the Mima, as well as their anxieties surrounding the current situation onboard the Aniara, the Mima becomes overwhelmed and self-destructs, dying by suicide. Though the Mimarobe had asked the captain for a month of rest for the Mima, she is blamed for the machine's malfunction and is imprisoned. Isagel, a pilot and the Mimarobe's lover, is also imprisoned following a physical conflict with Captain Chefone regarding the punishment of the Mimarobe. By the fourth year, mass suicides and developing cults lead the Mimarobe and Isagel to be granted release and reassigned to work. They join a fertility cult dedicated to the Mima, and soon Isagel becomes pregnant after an orgy. She has depression during her pregnancy and is tempted to end the child's life after he is born. The Mimarobe wants to build a "beam-screen", a projection device acting as a mimic of Mima to alleviate Isagel's and the other passengers' depression, but Captain Chefone forbids her from doing so. He instead orders her to focus on educating the children, in hopes that one or more of them may discover a way to return them to Mars. In the fifth year, Isagel and the astronomer discover that a probe large enough to feasibly contain fuel is travelling towards the Aniara, meaning that a rescue is possibly being attempted. The probe takes over a year to reach the ship, and upon being brought onto the ship in the sixth year, the crew quickly realize that they are unable to identify it, its origins or whether it contains fuel. The captain orders the crew to keep working on the probe, but they eventually lose hope of it being a means of rescue. The Astronomer laments that their ship is a sarcophagus, defying Captain Chefone's orders for the crew to keep a united front to prevent the passengers from losing hope. In a fit of rage, Captain Chefone shoots a taser at the Astronomer, killing her. The Mimarobe begins work on her projection device, eventually succeeding in projecting a waterfall onto the dark windows of the spaceship. Having succeeded, she returns to her quarters only to discover that Isagel has killed herself and their son. Four years later, the few remaining crew celebrate the 10th anniversary of their voyage into space. While listlessly accepting an honorary medal from Captain Chefone for her creation of the beam-screen, the Mimarobe notices that his wrists are bandaged from a presumed suicide attempt. The algae tanks that the passengers rely on for food and oxygen have become contaminated. In year 24 of the voyage, the Mimarobe and a few remaining survivors sit cross-legged in a dimly lit room. An unidentified woman in the group rhapsodizes about the divine power of sunlight on Earth, as the ship descends into a final darkness. In year 5,981,407 of its voyage, the Aniara – derelict, frozen, and devoid of human life – reaches the Lyra constellation and drifts right past a planet as verdant and welcoming as Earth once was.

The film opens with a commercial for New West Recovery (NWR), a Los Angeles -based rehab center founded by ex-addict Vin. In narration, Vin boasts that, thanks to the 2010 passage of Barack Obama 's Affordable Care Act, drug addiction and recovery are now pre-existing conditions, creating a large industrial complex for treatment clinics across Southern California alone. In Columbus, Ohio, homeless junkie couple Utah and Opal rob convenience stores to fund their habit. Opal also makes money as a sex worker for truckers. While panhandling, the duo encounter NWR sponsor Wood, who offers them a meal and an opportunity to get clean. Opal assumes Wood is a Christian proselytizer, but the man reiterates he's only offering drug rehabilitation. Utah accepts the offer and flies to Los Angeles with Wood. Opal, hardened by heroin and crack addiction, stays behind in Ohio. After a few weeks, Utah shows improvement and attempts to persuade Opal to join him, but she's indifferent to his progress and refuses her own treatment. With Wood's assistance, Opal finally decides to "enroll" as a NWR patient, and Utah is provided a kickback for the referral. Soon, Utah, like Wood, becomes a multi-level marketer for NWR, earning tens of thousands of dollars in other referrals, over-billed tests, and frivolous medical procedures. Vin brags about his schemes (in narration), while Utah wrestles with his inner morals. The scams appear to be victimless, non-violent crimes until one of NWR's accomplices, the corrupt Dr. Riner, wants a bigger take on a controversial surgical procedure, and insults Wood and Utah. Wood beats Riner to death and buries his body. Vin recommends Wood and Utah leave town for a few days and keep a low profile. A short time later, Vin sets Utah up with a new referral in a parked car at LAX. Before stepping foot into MWR's facility, Utah allows the man one more fix. While the man is unconscious, Utah notices more heroin and decides to get a hit himself, but fatally overdoses. Because Utah was vulnerable to relapse without intervention, it is suggested this meeting was engineered by Vin to cover loose ends in Riner's murder. An epilogue notes current statistics of addiction and overdoses, how many more criminal enterprises like NWR exist, and that twelve-step programs are the most effective method to treat addiction (and don't cost any money).

Kolyma and Gagarin are two boys in a Siberian village in Transnistria being raised by Kolyma's grandfather Kuzja. Kuzja imposes a very strict education to the children, focusing on hatred of the Soviet officials such as bankers or the military, which are regarded as enemies. Following one of their robbery attempts against the Soviets, Gagarin is captured, tried and imprisoned. Seven years later Gagarin is freed, but he discovers that his world has completely changed and he does not know how to succeed in solving his problems. Gagarin finally discovers that the ideals of his people have collapsed in the drug trade, so he enters into this new system but he ends up in conflict with Kolyma.

Judge Steven Hardin (Michael Douglas) is an idealistic Los Angeles judge who becomes frustrated when the technicalities of the law prevent the prosecution of three criminals. The first is a man who was charged with murdering several elderly women for their welfare money. The second and third are two men who were accused of raping and killing a young boy named Daniel Lewin as part of a suspected child pornography ring. The suspected child murderers, Lawrence Monk and Arthur Cooms, attracted the attention of two police officers when they were driving slowly late at night. The police officers suspected that the van's occupants might be burglars. After checking the license plate for violations, the officers pulled the van over for expired paperwork. They also claimed to have smelled marijuana, and then saw a bloody shoe inside the van. However, the reason for stopping the van turned out to be spurious: the paperwork was actually submitted on time, it was merely processed late. Since the traffic stop was illegal, based on the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, Hardin has no choice but to exclude any evidence discovered as a result of the traffic stop, including the bloody shoe. Hardin becomes even more distraught when Daniel's father, Dr. Harold Lewin, attempts to shoot Monk and Cooms in court, but misses and shoots one of the arresting officers instead; Dr. Lewin is arrested. While on a visit to Dr. Lewin, Hardin learns that another boy had been discovered by the police, raped and murdered in the same manner as Daniel. Outraged, Hardin visits his friend, Judge Caulfield (Hal Holbrook), who tells him of the existence of a modern-day Star Chamber, a group of judges that identifies criminals who cannot be brought to justice through the judicial system, and takes action against them using a hired assassin. As there is a vacancy present, one of the judges, James Culhane, had committed suicide earlier, Hardin participates in two of the Star Chamber proceedings, and the assassin is dispatched to kill two other unrelated murderers who were released on technicalities despite their own confessions. After receiving a phone call that Dr. Lewin has committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills while in jail, Hardin contracts the assassin to murder Monk and Cooms. Police detective Harry Lowes (Yaphet Kotto) learns from a car thief named Stanley Flowers that three men were actually responsible for the crime. While at a party, Hardin learns about the new evidence. Realizing that he and the Star Chamber have just sentenced Monk and Cooms to die for a crime that they did not commit, Hardin implores the Star Chamber to recall the assassin, but is told by the other judges that the hit cannot be canceled. For the judges' protection, there is a cut-out between them and the assassin; they do not know who he is, and he doesn't know who they are. They tell Hardin that, although an occasional mistake is inevitable and regrettable, what they are doing still serves society's greater good. They argue that Monk and Cooms are clearly criminals who are guilty of numerous other crimes, even if they are not guilty of the specific crime for which the group convicted them. Hardin makes it clear that he does not accept their reasoning, and Caulfield warns him to back down because the members of the group will do whatever they have to in order to protect themselves. Hardin decides to make an effort to stop Monk and Cooms from being killed, so he tracks them down in an abandoned warehouse and attempts to warn them. However, Hardin has stumbled across their illegal drug operation, and they don't believe him. They attack Hardin, but the hitman, disguised as a police officer, arrives and kills both of them before they can kill Hardin. The hitman prepares to kill Hardin, but Lowes arrives at the last moment and kills the hitman. Finally, as the Star Chamber decides another "case" without Hardin, Hardin sits with Lowes outside in a car, recording their conversation.

The story begins in 1930s Germany, against the backdrop of the Third Reich's ascendancy. John Halder is a German university professor who lives with his overly anxious wife, 2 children and a mother with senile dementia. He writes a paper called, "The Case for Mercy Death on the Grounds of Humanity", to explore his personal predicament and the justification of euthanasia. His paper catches the attention of the Nazi party, who send a high-ranking Nazi officer, Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler, to help them push their agenda and offer him a job. After publishing the paper his career and social status advance, but he does not realise the consequences his work will have. Halder is set on a path that will lead to him divorcing his wife, marrying a young Nazi sympathiser, Anne, and gaining an honorary SS commission. Halder's best friend, a Jewish psychologist called Maurice who fought alongside him in World War I, voices his concerns about Halder's choices. As it becomes more dangerous for Jews in Germany, Maurice approaches Halder to gain exit papers, but Halder is unwilling to risk his own standing and status to help save his best friend. By the time he is willing to do so, it is too late as Maurice has been turned into the SS by his wife. Halder dons an SS uniform and visits a concentration camp where he is confronted by the reality that his choices and actions helped put into motion.

Dr. Will Caster is a scientist who researches the nature of sapience, including artificial intelligence. He and his team work to create a sentient computer; he predicts that such a computer will create a technological singularity, or in his words "Transcendence". His wife, Evelyn, is also a scientist and helps him with his work. An anti-technology terrorist group called "Revolutionary Independence From Technology" (R.I.F.T.) carry out synchronized attacks on A.I. laboratories, while one member shoots Will with a polonium -laced bullet. Will is given no more than a month to live. In desperation, Evelyn comes up with a plan to upload Will's consciousness into the quantum computer that the project has developed. His best friend and fellow researcher, Max Waters, questions the wisdom of this choice, reasoning that the "uploaded" Will would only be an imitation of the real person. Will's consciousness survives his body's death in this technological form and requests to be connected to the Internet to grow in capability and knowledge. Max believes that the computer is not actually Will and demands that it be shut down. Evelyn, being offended, demands that Max leave. At a bar, Max is met by Bree, the leader of R.I.F.T. He refuses to talk with her and leaves, but is kidnapped by other members of R.I.F.T. in the parking lot. They use his cellphone to track down Evelyn's location. When R.I.F.T. discovers where Evelyn has established her project, she connects the computer intelligence to the Internet via satellite and escapes before R.I.F.T. destroys the equipment. In his virtual form and with Evelyn's help, Will uses his newfound vast capabilities to build a technological utopia in a remote desert town called Brightwood, where, over the course of two years, he spearheads the development of ground-breaking technologies in medicine, energy, biology and nanotechnology. However, Evelyn grows fearful of Will's motives when he displays the ability to remotely connect to and control people's minds after they have been subjected to his nanoparticles. After visiting Evelyn and the underground facility Will has built, and seeing the capabilities of the hybrids Will has created, FBI agent Donald Buchanan and government scientist Joseph Tagger become suspicious of Will's motives and plan to stop the sentient entity from spreading, with help from the government and R.I.F.T. As Will has already spread his influence to all the networked computer technology in the world, Max and R.I.F.T. develop a computer virus with the purpose of deleting Will's source code, destroying him. Evelyn, now working with the FBI and R.I.F.T., plans to upload the virus by infecting herself and then having Will upload her consciousness. A side effect of the virus would be the destruction of technological civilization. This would also disable the nano-particles, which have spread in the water, through the wind and have already started to eradicate pollution, disease, and human mortality. When Evelyn goes back to the research center, she is stunned to see Will in a newly bioprinted organic body identical to his old one. Will welcomes her but is instantly aware that she is carrying the virus and intends to destroy him. The FBI and the members of R.I.F.T. attack the base with artillery, destroying much of its power supply and fatally wounding Evelyn. When Bree threatens to kill Max unless Will uploads the virus, Will explains that he has only enough power either to heal Evelyn's physical body or upload the virus. Evelyn tells Will that Max should not die because of what they have done, so Will uploads the virus to save Max. As Will dies, he explains to Evelyn that he did what he did for her, as she had pursued science to repair the damage humans had done to the ecosystems. In their last moment, he tells Evelyn to think about their garden. The virus kills both Will and Evelyn, and a global technology collapse and blackout ensues. Three years later, in Will and Evelyn's garden at their old home in Berkeley, Max notices that their sunflowers are the only blooming plants. Upon closer examination, he notices that a drop of water falling from a sunflower petal instantly cleanses a puddle of oil — and realizes that the Faraday cage around the garden has protected a sample of Will's sentient nano-particles. The movie ends with a voiceover by Max: "He created this garden for the same reason he did everything: So they could be together."

In late 1969, U.S. Naval Intelligence officer Charles Rone is contacted by "The Highwayman", a veteran spy and member of a freelance espionage ring that sells information to the highest bidder. The Highwayman recruits Rone for an intelligence operation, along with Janis, "The Whore", a drug dealer and panderer; "The Warlock", a culturally sophisticated homosexual; and B.A., a thief. The group must retrieve a letter, written without proper authorization, that promises United States aid to the Soviet Union in destroying Chinese atomic weapons plants. The letter was solicited on behalf of a high-level Soviet official by a man named Dmitri Polyakov. Polyakov had previously been selling Soviet secrets to the U.S. that he had obtained from the high-level official. Upon learning about the letter, U.S. and British authorities arranged to buy it back from Polyakov. However, Polyakov later committed suicide after being apprehended by Soviet counterintelligence, under the direction of Colonel Yakov Kosnov. The group blackmails Captain Potkin, the head of Soviet counterintelligence in the U.S., threatening his family to force him to allow them the use of his vacant apartment in Moscow. Once they arrive in the USSR, the terminally ill Highwayman sacrifices his life, attempting to divert the attention of Soviet counterintelligence away from his team. To ascertain the identity of Polyakov's contact, Janis enters a partnership with a brothel operator, who mentions a Chinese agent known as "The Kitai" as a possible source for names of officials and others to whom he can sell heroin, with which Janis already plans to keep the prostitutes addicted. Meanwhile, the Warlock integrates himself into a community of intellectual homosexuals, starting an affair with a university professor. One of the professor's students was Polyakov's former lover. The student says that Polyakov had a relationship with Vladimir Bresnavitch of the Central Committee. Years before, Bresnavitch sought to oust Kosnov from his job, in favor of Robert Sturdevant, a primary operator in The Highwayman's old group. Prior to that time, Kosnov and Sturdevant had been friendly, with each one trusting the other to allow his agents to operate in the other's territory. However, with the pressure from Bresnavitch, Kosnov decided that he had to do "something spectacular" to keep his job. He betrayed Sturdevant's trust and captured his agents, earning the enmity of Sturdevant himself. Sturdevant eventually disappeared and presumably committed suicide. Bresnavitch had used Polyakov to fence stolen art works in Paris, so Ward, an old partner of the Highwayman and a member of Rone's current group, decides to go there in search of leads. On the day of his return, Potkin reaches the Soviet Union and informs Bresnavitch about Rone's operation. Janis, B.A. and Ward are apprehended, while The Warlock commits suicide before being captured. Rone escapes and tries visiting the Kitai to arrange re-purchase of the letter. However, the Kitai responds by trying to kill Rone, who determines that the Chinese have the letter. Rone then turns to Kosnov's wife Erika Beck, with whom he has been having an affair. Rone eventually realizes that Bresnavitch orchestrated the raid without the knowledge of Soviet counterintelligence, an indicator that he was Polyakov's traitorous Soviet official contact. Rone promises to help Erika escape to the West. She later reports that B.A. has taken poison and is expected to die. Rone threatens to expose Bresnavitch unless Ward is released. Bresnavitch agrees, and Rone and Ward then arrange to leave the next day. Disapproving of Rone's plans to aid Erika, Ward kills her. Ward then approaches Kosnov. He begins listing the names of agents betrayed by Kosnov, says that the time has come for retribution and shoots Kosnov in the kneecap. Kosnov then seems to recognize Ward, who closes in on him. Kosnov soon begins screaming. While heading for a plane to leave the country, Rone shares with Ward his conclusions that Ward is actually Sturdevant and intends to stay, having made a deal with Bresnavitch to take over as the head of Soviet counterintelligence. Ward then reveals that B.A. is alive. He offers to release B.A. in exchange for a favor, handing Rone a note that reads, "Kill Potkin's wife and daughters or I kill the girl."

After the September 11 attacks, Jack Ryan, studying at the London School of Economics, becomes a U.S. Marine officer serving in Afghanistan, until his spine is critically injured while saving two of his fellow Marines when his helicopter is shot down. During a lengthy recovery back in the United States, he meets Cathy Muller, a medical student helping him to recover. Later, Thomas Harper, a veteran CIA official, recruits Jack. Ten years later, Ryan is working on Wall Street covertly for the CIA looking for suspicious financial transactions that indicate terrorist activity, while Muller is now his fiancée. When Russia loses a key vote before the United Nations and the markets do not respond as expected, Ryan discovers that billions of dollars possessed by Russian business interests, most of which belong directly or indirectly to Russian oligarch Viktor Cherevin, have disappeared. Ryan's employer conducts business with one of Cherevin's businesses. When Ryan finds certain accounts inaccessible to him as an auditor, he uses it as a legitimate excuse to visit Moscow and investigate. After narrowly surviving an attempt on his life by an assassin posing as his bodyguard, Ryan contacts the CIA and is surprised that his backup is Harper. During their debrief at Staraya Square, Ryan explains how Cherevin's web of international investments makes the United States vulnerable to complete financial collapse following a staged terrorist attack. The next day, Ryan is met by Katya, who escorts him to Cherevin's office. At their meeting, he is told that the problem company and all its assets have just been sold, preventing an audit. Meanwhile, Muller suspects that Ryan is having an affair and flies to Moscow. Against protocol for unmarried couples, Ryan reveals his CIA employment to her. Improvising the situation, Harper convinces Muller to help them infiltrate Cherevin's offices. Ryan and Muller meet Cherevin at an upscale restaurant across the street from the office. Ryan, who supposedly had too much to drink already before dinner, acts boorish and Muller suggests he "take a walk." Having obtained Cherevin's access card, Ryan enters an office adjacent to Cherevin's, where he downloads crucial files from the computer, while Muller remains with Cherevin distracting him with a variety of topics, including his terminal cirrhosis symptoms. The suspicious computer activity is detected, and guards rush through the building to locate the intruder. Katya is alerted to find Cherevin, who in a rage takes Muller out of the restaurant to return to his office. On the street, they run into Ryan, who apologizes for his behavior and leaves with Muller. Cheverin's men locate and invade the CIA group's base and kidnap Muller; enraged, Ryan follows and rescues her. Ryan and the CIA discover Cherevin has secretly propped up the struggling Chinese and Japanese state economies for years, leaving the U.S. economy vulnerable, as well as using a falsified death certificate to place his son, Aleksandr, in the U.S. as a sleeper agent. Ryan uses his talent for pattern recognition to determine that Aleksandr will execute a terrorist attack on Wall Street. Returning to New York City, he locates and catches up to a fake police response vehicle driven by Aleksandr, and discovers a bomb inside the vehicle. Unable to defuse it, he hijacks the vehicle and crashes it into the East River while jumping out; the bomb detonates, killing Aleksandr. Cherevin's fellow conspirators kill him to cover their tracks. Afterward, Ryan, now married, and Harper are called to the White House to brief the President on their next move.

The story opens in 2010, with the release of the Afghan War Logs. It then flashes back to 2007, where journalist Daniel Domscheit-Berg meets Australian journalist Julian Assange for the first time, at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin. Daniel's interest in online activism has led him to Assange, with whom he has corresponded by email. They begin working together on WikiLeaks, a website devoted to releasing information being withheld from the public while retaining anonymity for its sources. Their first major target is a private Swiss bank, Julius Baer, whose Cayman Islands branch has been engaged in illegal activities. Despite Baer's filing of a lawsuit and obtaining an injunction, the judge dissolves the injunction, allowing Julian and Daniel to reclaim the domain name. As their confidence increases, the two push forward in publishing information over the next three years, including secrets on Scientology, revealing Sarah Palin's email account, and the membership list of the British National Party. At first Daniel enjoys changing the world, viewing WikiLeaks as a noble enterprise and Assange as a mentor. However, the relationship between the two becomes strained over time. Daniel loses his job and problems arise in his relationship, particularly concerning the BNP membership leak, which also revealed the addresses of the people involved, and caused several to lose their jobs. Assange openly mocks Daniel's concerns about these issues, implying his own life has been more troubling. Assange's abrasive manner and actions, such as abandoning Daniel at his parents' house after having accepted their dinner invitation, only deepen the strain further. Interspersed throughout the film are flashbacks hinting at Assange's troubled childhood and involvement in a suspicious cult, and that Assange's obsession with WikiLeaks has more to do with childhood trauma than wanting to improve the world. Daniel begins to fear that Assange may be closer to a con man than a mentor. He also notices that Assange constantly gives different stories about why his hair is white. Assange at first tells Daniel that WikiLeaks has hundreds of workers, but Daniel later finds out that Daniel and Assange are the only members. Most importantly to Daniel, Assange frequently says that protecting sources is the website's number one goal. However, Daniel begins to suspect that Assange only cares about protecting sources so people will come forward and that Assange does not actually care who gets hurt by the website, though Assange says that the harm the website may cause is outweighed by good the leaks create. Daniel's girlfriend tells him that she believes in his cause, but that it's his job to prevent Assange from going too far. The tensions come to a head when Bradley Manning (later known as Chelsea Manning) leaks hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks, including the "Collateral Murder" video of an airstrike in Baghdad, the Afghan and Iraq War Logs, and 250,000 US Diplomatic Cables. Assange wants to leak the documents immediately, but Daniel insists that they review the documents first. Later, several major newspapers agree to cooperate with WikiLeaks in releasing the documents while spinning WikiLeaks positively. However, both Daniel and the newspapers require the names in the documents be redacted both to protect sources and to assist in the media spin, to which Assange reluctantly agrees. Daniel realizes that Assange has no intention of following through on this promise and is grooming a right-hand man to replace Daniel. The newspapers release the redacted documents. The resulting media and public uproar forces informants to flee from their countries of residence and many U.S. diplomats to resign. Before Assange can go further, however, Daniel and the other members of the original WikiLeaks team delete the site and block Assange's access to the server. Daniel later talks with a reporter from The Guardian, and the two fear that giving Assange such a large platform was a mistake. The reporter tells Daniel that while Assange may be untrustworthy, he had done a good thing by uncovering secret dealing in the government and business world and attempting to protect sources. Daniel also reveals the real reason for Assange's hair colour—that it had been a custom of the cult he had been part of in Australia—and reports that he once accidentally discovered Assange dyeing it that colour. It is revealed that WikiLeaks is continuing to leak information (with Assange implied to have either regained the site or rebuilt it), and the Manning documents were released with no redactions. Daniel has written a book on his involvement with the organization on which this film was based, and Assange has threatened to sue in retaliation. Assange is shown to be living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid arrest on an outstanding warrant for alleged sex crimes. In an interview, he denounces the two upcoming WikiLeaks films, stating that they will be factually inaccurate (having been partly based on Daniel's book). He says that all institutions are fallible but that hiring Daniel was the one mistake he made.

In an airport, Lone Man is being instructed on his mission by Creole. The mission itself is left unstated and the instructions are cryptic, including such phrases as "Everything is subjective," "The universe has no center and no edges; reality is arbitrary," and "Use your imagination and your skills." After the meeting at the airport, he travels to Madrid and then on to Seville, meeting several people in cafés and on trains along the way. Each meeting has the same pattern: he orders two espressos at a cafe and waits, his contact arrives and in Spanish asks, "You don't speak Spanish, right?" in different ways, to which he responds, "No." The contacts tell him about their individual interests such as molecules, art, or film, then the two of them exchange matchboxes. Inside each matchbox that Lone Man receives, is a code written on a small piece of paper. He reads them, and then eat the paper. These coded messages lead him to his next rendezvous. He repeatedly encounters a woman who is always either completely nude or wearing only a transparent raincoat. She invites him to have sex with her but he declines, stating that he never has sex while he is working. One phrase that Creole, the man in the airport, tells him is repeated throughout the movie: "He who thinks he is bigger than the rest must go to the cemetery. There he will see what life really is: a handful of dirt." This phrase is sung in a peteneras flamenco song in a club in Seville at one point in his journey. In Almería, he is given a ride in a pickup truck - driven by a companion of the Mexican - on which the words La vida no vale nada ('life is worth nothing') are painted, a phrase Guitar says to him in Seville, and he is taken to Tabernas desert. There lies a fortified and heavily guarded compound. After observing the compound from afar, he somehow penetrates its defenses and waits for his target inside the target's office. The target asks how he got in, and he answers, "I used my imagination." After garroting the target with a guitar string, he rides back to Madrid, to the room where he disrobes from his latest fresh suit. Folding it, and locking it away, he changes into a sweatsuit bearing the national flag of Cameroon. Before exiting the train station onto a crowded sidewalk he throws away his last matchbox.