Mary Mapes' 2005 memoir, "Truth and Duty", provides the basis for this docudrama directed and scripted by James Vanderbilt, based on true events that occurred shortly before the 2004 Presidential Election. Mapes was an acclaimed producer for the long-running and largely popular CBS primetime news show, "60 Minutes", who gets a hot tip to look into a story involving the military service of President George W. Bush during the Vietnam War, who was actively seeking re-election against Senator John Kerry, whose own decorated military service in Vietnam during the had been called into question in a series of paid advertisements. Photocopied documents purport to show that Bush received special treatment do to coming from a privileged and powerful family, resulting in softer service in the Texas Air National Guard. With time constraints to consider, the story is run within days from CBS News anchor Dan Rather on "60 Minutes II", pokes holes in the story of Bush's days of service, including an extended period when he appears to have gone AWOL, as well as being released from service early in order to attend Harvard Business School. However, just as soon as the journalists involved pat themselves on the back for a job well done, questions begin to emerge as to the authenticity of the documents, mostly stemming from the font type and letters in superscript, that leads to the story beginning to unravel, and the stake of everyone involved in the piece, including the very popular and respected Rather, comes into scrutiny by the internet, the other media sources, and an internal investigation by CBS to save face.
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