Young, energetic and focused on a top career in the growing television industry, Chuck Harris (Sam Rockwell) finds himself being followed by a suspicious character (Clooney as CIA agent Jim Byrd) who quickly lures him into a secretive and dangerous world: that of a CIA operative. While Barris gains notoriety as a dynamic television producer - creating such innovative and popular game shows as "The Newlywed Game" and the self-hosted "The Gong Show" - he regularly executes assassinations for the United States government.

Barris soon begins to lose grip of his dangerous double life and finds himself torn between his loving girlfriend Penny (Drew Barrymore) and the mysterious international operative known as Patricia (Julia Roberts). His TV shows eventually receive mass criticism from the public who accuse him of contaminating the airwaves and he finds himself marked for death by a traitor operative. Barris must regain control of his life or face losing everything he has worked and murdered for.