Plot

Richard Nixon is the President of the USA.

On June 17, 1972, Frank Wills, security guard at the Watergate complex, finds a door's bolt taped over to prevent it from locking. He calls the police, who find and arrest five burglars in the Democratic National Committee headquarters within the complex.

The next morning, Harry Rosenfeld (Jack Warden) and Howard Simons (Martin Balsam), editors at the Washington Post, briefly discuss the burglary, including the large amounts of cash, 35mm cameras and Walkie-Talkies found in the burglars' possession, and the fact that they invaded the Democratic Party's national headquarters. The Washington Post assigns new reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to the local courthouse to cover the story, which is considered of minor importance.

Woodward learns that the five men - James W. McCord Jr. (Richard Herd) and four Cuban-Americans from Miami Bernard Baker (Henry Calvert), Eugenio Martinez (Dominic Chianese), Frank Sturgis (Ron Hale) and Virgilio R. Gonzales (Nate Esformes) possessed electronic bugging equipment, and are represented by a high-priced "country club" attorney. Woodward is perplexed how the burglars had their own counsel as they never made their phone call. Woodward finds a notable lawyer Markham (Nicolas Coster) attending the court proceedings from the seating area.

At the arraignment, McCord identifies himself in court as having recently left the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the others are also revealed to have CIA ties. Woodward believes that the ex-CIA operatives were being used to the install electronic bugs at the Democratic party national headquarters. The police search the hotel where the burglars were staying and recover their notes and diaries. That night, a policeman calls Woodward concerning some entries found in the address books of two of the burglars, which include the names "Howard Hunt" and "WHouse.". Woodward connects the burglars to E. Howard Hunt, an employee of President Richard Nixon's White House counsel Charles Colson, and formerly of the CIA.

Woodward starts calling the people connected to the case, and gathers information, but nobody wants to talk to him. Woodward finds that Howard Hunt worked for the CIA from 1949 till 1970. The White House says that Hunt is not associated with the White House for over 3 months. Woodward has only been with the Post for 9 months. Woodward continues his investigation and is ultimately given an unsolicited denial of Colson's involvement in the Watergate burglary from the White House. Simons, realizing that the story is of national interest, believes it should be covered by a top political writer, rather than an inexperienced youngster. Rosenfeld disagrees, and partners Bernstein with Woodward.

Carl, another Post reporter, attempts to help Woodward by rewriting his articles to give it more clarity. Woodward agrees that Carl helped and shares all of his notes with him. Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), is assigned to cover the Watergate story with Woodward. The two young men are reluctant partners but work well together. Carl speaks to his date, a young girl named Karen who was Hunt's assistant, who reveals that for a while Hunt was investigating Edward Kennedy and checked out many books from the White House library on the subject.

When Carl speaks to the librarian, she agrees to provide a list of the books that Hunt checked out, but then returns to the phone and says that Hunt never checked out any books. Woodward calls Deputy Director of Communications Ken Clawson at the White House, who denies that the librarian spoke to Bernstein. The reporters take their investigation to the Library of Congress but find nothing. The resulting news story is lacking in hard evidence, and Executive Editor Ben Bradlee keeps it off the front page. Executive editor Benjamin Bradlee (Jason Robards) believes that their work lacks reliable sources and is not worthy of the Post's front page, but he encourages further investigation.

Woodward contacts a senior government official, an anonymous source he has used before and refers to as "Deep Throat" (Hal Holbrook). From a phone booth, Woodward calls the anonymous man, who refuses to discuss Watergate. The next morning, Woodward finds a note from the man in his copy of 'The New York Times' instructing him to contact him. Communicating secretly, using a flag placed in a balcony flowerpot to signal meetings, they meet at night in an underground parking garage. Deep Throat speaks vaguely and with metaphors, avoiding substantial facts about the Watergate break-in, but promises to keep Woodward on the right path to the truth, advising Woodward to "follow the money".

Woodward and Bernstein connect the five burglars to corrupt activities involving campaign contributions to Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP or CREEP). This includes a check for $25,000 paid by Kenneth H. Dahlberg, who Miami authorities identified when investigating the Miami-based burglars. Bernstein travels to Miami, Florida, where State Attorney Dardis (Ned Beatty) has subpoenaed Bernard Barker's telephone and money records. Dardis's file contains several checks from a Mexican bank, and one from a Florida Bank issued to Kenneth H. Dahlberg for $25,000. Woodward contacts Dahlberg, an officer with the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP), who gave the check to CREEP finance chairman Maurice Stans, who in turn gave it to Barker.

However, Bradlee and others at the Post still doubt the investigation and its dependence on sources such as Deep Throat, wondering why the Nixon administration should break the law when the president is almost certain to defeat his opponent, Democratic nominee George McGovern.

Through former CREEP treasurer Hugh W. Sloan Jr. (Stephen Collins), Woodward and Bernstein connect a slush fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars to White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman - "the second most important man in this country" - and to former attorney general John N. Mitchell (John Randolph), now head of CREEP. They learn that CREEP was financing a "ratf**king" campaign to sabotage Democratic presidential candidates a year before the Watergate burglary, when Nixon was lagging behind Edmund Muskie in the polls.

While Bradlee's demand for thoroughness compels the reporters to obtain other sources to confirm the Haldeman connection, the White House issues a non-denial denial of the Post's above-the-fold story. Bradlee continues to encourage investigation. Woodward & Carl acquire a list of CREEP employees and attempt to interview several in their homes. One woman tells them to leave before they are seen and is in tears as she closes the door.

Rosenthal further discourages them with the news that the GAO report (which uncovered the secret slush fund) will not be released until after Nixon is re-nominated for president, and only Hunt, the five burglars, and CREEP operative G. Gordon Liddy will be indicted for the Watergate burglary.

One woman, a CREEP bookkeeper (Jane Alexander), admits that she had long been aware of the secret fund and mentions a list of 15 names with a dollar amount next to each. The list was destroyed, however. She refuses to disclose the names of the men who control the secret fund, but she will identify initials. They discover that former Attorney General and CREEP chairman John Mitchell controlled the secret fund, along with Liddy, Bart Porter, Jeb Magruder, attorney to the President Herbert Kalmbach.

Woodward and Bernstein next visit Hugh Sloan, who recently resigned as CREEP treasurer as an act of conscience. Sloan states that all CREEP activities are approved by the White House and estimates the amount of the secret fund at close to $1 million. Bernstein travels to Los Angeles to interview Donald Segretti, a young lawyer who, under the supervision of CREEP operative Dwight Chapin, sabotaged the campaigns of several Democratic presidential candidates.

Woodward learns from an FBI source that Segretti was paid from the CREEP secret fund by Chapin, who was hired by White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, suggesting that Haldeman is the fifth man who controls the fund. Woodward and Bernstein visit Sloan for confirmation of Haldeman's involvement, but rather than confirming the story, Sloan says he has "no problem" with it. Bernstein calls his source at the FBI, who confirms that "John Haldeman" controlled the fund. Woodward is not convinced, nor is Bradlee, but Bernstein gets further confirmation from a contact at the Justice Department and Bradlee runs the story. The following morning, Sloan denies implicating Haldeman, and the Nixon administration publicly denounces the Washington Post. The paper is barraged with criticism, and Bradlee is angered by his reporters' blunder.

Woodward again meets secretly with Deep Throat and demands he be less evasive. Very reluctantly, Deep Throat reveals that Haldeman masterminded the Watergate break-in and cover-up. He also states the cover-up was not only intended to camouflage the CREEP involvement, but also to hide "covert operations" involving "the entire U.S. intelligence community", including the CIA and FBI. He warns Woodward and Bernstein that their lives, and those of others, are in danger. When the two relay this information to Bradlee and tell him of the depth of the conspiracy, Bradlee realizes that a constitutional crisis is coming, but tells them to move forward with the story.

On January 20, 1973, Bernstein and Woodward type the full story, while a television in the newsroom shows Nixon taking the oath of office for his second term as president. A montage of Watergate-related teletype headlines from the following years is shown, ending with the report of Nixon's resignation and the inauguration of Gerald Ford on August 9, 1974.