In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, concludes that the war is based on decades of lies and leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to the New York Times, making headlines around the world. The film tells how one man's change of heart created a landmark struggle involving America's newspapers, president and Supreme Court, the surrounding events of which led directly to Watergate, Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.