The Post

Spoiler alert! Please do not read the following plot summary if you have not seen the film. In 1965 South Vietnam, Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) is at a campsite with soldiers when he sees them being killed by the enemy. He speaks to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood) and to the Chief of Staff regarding the progress in the war telling them that nothing has changed in the state of the war. McNamara says it means things are just getting worse. Back in the US, McNamara lies to the press saying that they were winning the war in Vietnam. A frustrated Ellsberg manages to sneak out classified documents on the Vietnam War from the Pentagon. He secretively makes copies of the papers along with two of his colleagues. Upon reading them, Ellsberg discovers that the American government including U.S. presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson were not telling the truth about the war to the press and public.

In 1971 Washington, D.C, Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) – the publisher of The Washington Post meets with a colleague as she is set to take the company public. The Chief of Staff calls to inform her that President Nixon does not want The Post to cover his daughter's upcoming wedding. Graham meets her managing editor, Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), to plan their new content strategy to attract a wider demographic of readers. Graham attends a board meeting full of men to discuss the plans for taking the company public. When Graham leaves the room her colleagues, Arthur Parsons (Bradley Whitford), expresses his concerns about how Graham inherited the company after her husband Philip committed suicide. He also discusses the discomfort some other men might feel having a woman in charge. McNamara pays Graham a visit to inform her that the papers might have some unflattering news about him the next day, implying that they share a rapport with each other. Graham shares this information with Bradlee who sends an intern to the New York Times to dig out more details. The intern manages to come back with a rough outline of the next day's cover page, involving McNamara. Bradlee and his team realize they need to pull up their socks as they have serious competition. The next morning, they read the NY Times’ story on the Pentagon Papers which reveals that the White House had been covering up a lot of information. Graham meets with the NY Times’ editor Abe Rosenthal (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his wife over a social dinner when Rosenthal find out that President Nixon wants to take the paper to court over the story.

Post journalist Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk) looks to meet Daniel Ellsberg who can give him more details. They meet in a motel where Ellsberg provides Bagdikian with over 1,000 printed papers. Bagdikian informs Bradlee who gathers Post journalists Meg Greenfield (Carrie Coon) and Howard Simons (David Cross), to figure how they should put their story together. Bradlee also hires lawyers Roger Clark (Jesse Plemons) and Anthony Essaye (Zach Woods) to give them legal advice following the fate of the NY Times.

Graham discusses the new developments with her daughter Lally (Alison Brie). She talks about the challenges she faced to keep the paper running following her husband’s death but was now concerned about the extent to which things had progressed. Bradlee informs Graham of the seriousness of their actions, should they proceed to print the story. Graham, Bradlee and their board members meet to discuss the implications. After the initial hesitation, Graham decides to go ahead with the story. The Post comes out with the story, Bradlee and team are apprehensive about the outcome but soon realise they made the right choice when other newspapers also begin to print the same story. Graham attends the court hearing against both The Post and The Times where she realises that she took an important decision when she sees the support of the women around. At the Post Greenfield gets a call which reveals that the court ruled in favour of the governed, not the governors. A silhouette of Nixon can be heard in the White House banning anyone from The Post. Later, a break-in can be seen ongoing at the Watergate Hotel.