Senator Hayn starts his workday with an emotional fight with his wife, resulting in their decision to separate. At his smaller office within the White House, he waits for Gloria Noone, his trusted work partner and assistant. With some troubled efforts, they are trying to pressure the State to release an uncensored transcript. When Noone returns to the office, he informs her about the development in his marriage, and she begins to draft a statement to be released. No one started rattling off different approaches and versions, and Senator Hayn made minor corrections to the wording. They argue about how long and detailed the statement should be. Senator Hayn tells Noone to stress it as a family tragedy rather than a political one in the statement.

While Noone continues with damage control, Senator Hayn is called into a small, secretive political meeting about Slayton, an official who has worked in a foreign country for years. An urgent and nervous transcript was wired in by Slayton’s “number two,” stating that Slayton is having a nervous breakdown and must be replaced. The group discusses Slayton’s past record and behaviors, and Senator Hayn recalls the writing and past transcripts he has received. The situation is complicated by activities Slayton was supervising under the table. The group decides to leave the situation in Slayton’s hands, and another transcript later arrives from Number Two, informing that Slayton had his breakdown and his operations failed.

In another part of Washington, D.C., a famous columnist is reaching the end of his 30-year-long career. After serving in World War II, he was famous for his personal experiences and vivid battle descriptions. After divorcing his first wife, a movie star, the columnist remarries with Caroline, a young girl from Washington and twenty years his junior. The two travel all across Europe and Asia for inspirational war material for his column. At home, they host a diverse and elite group of guests who come and go. After the 1960s, the columnist’s writing falls under criticism of being too war-hungry and graphic. Caroline begins a brief and secretive affair with one of their house guests, and the columnist’s former secretary publishes a written piece about it. The columnist stops his public column, but in private, he keeps writing a long list of names of dead soldiers, correspondents, and others.