The movie is based on the true story of Mark Whitacre, an executive at a food processing company, who blows the whistle on illegal price fixing activities at his company. He informs the FBI that executives had been illegally fixing prices in the food additive industry for years. This leads to an FBI raid on Whitacre's company, ADM, and the arrest of key executives. The central plot focuses on the price fixing scheme, which is an illegal agreement between competitors to fix prices in the market. The movie shows how bad corporate governance, like illegal activities and kickbacks, can damage a company's reputation and integrity.