故事发生在一个虚构的城市——埃迪森市中,在那里,执政者和执法者相互勾结,黑恶势力层出不穷,金钱和权利的交易每天都在发生,这些黑暗和腐败犹如一只巨大而厚重的手掌,控制了整个城市和生活在其中的人们。波拉克(贾斯汀·丁伯莱克 Justin Timberlake 饰)是一名尚且保留了赤子之心的记者,精明的他很快就察觉到了发生在这个城市中的种种罪恶,心怀远大理想的他决定将它们一一揭发。 波拉克的举动很快就惹恼了他正在调查的对象们,他们决定灭掉这个不知好歹的小子。在危险之中,波拉克只得求助于自己的老板艾斯佛(摩根·弗里曼 Morgan Freeman 饰)——一个良心尚存的老记者,在艾斯佛和其好友华勒斯检察官(凯文·史派西 Kevin Spacey 饰)的帮助下,波拉克正在一步一步的接近真相。Josh Pollack, a naive and ambitious reporter, is convinced the F.R.A.T., an elite force within the Edison Police Department, is corrupted. Working on a homicide case, he begins to unearth evidence which suggests that the entire justice system is willingly turning a blind eye to the abuses of the this force. When his life and that of his girlfriend are threatened from his research, he join forces with his editor, a once-famous reporter, and a renown private detective to bring down the F.R.A.T. and every one behind it.