The morality of government interrogation is questioned when an Egyptian- born chemical engineer is deemed a terrorist threat by the United States Government. Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) disappears during a flight from South Africa to Chicago. His wife, Isabella (Reese Witherspoon), is denied information as to his whereabouts or the reason for his detention. CIA analyst Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) begins to question the morality of his assignment as the unorthodox interrogation, which more closely resembles torture instead of questioning. Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard) is an aide to Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin) whose pleads to interfere with the corrupt interrogation fall on deaf ears. Meanwhile, an upper-echelon government operative in the Terrorism Unit, Corinne Whitman, (Meryl Streep) insist upon the success of this type of questioning in saving lives and the necessity of the torture to ensure safety for thousands. Where is the line between right and wrong?