Summary
The new editor arrives at The Boston Globe after its purchase by the New York Times. An outsider to the small-town city, he asks the Spotlight investigative team to take a closer look at the serial child molestation cases by priests of the Catholic Church. As the team begins its work by suing the church to unseal a key piece of evidence, it encounters resistance from an establishment thoroughly entrenched in the private lives of the city's inhabitants. As the team uncovers the true scale of the institutional cover-up, it must contend with the question of whether they too, had been among the enablers who turned a blind eye and allowed the atrocity to have gone on for so long. The team sacrifice lifelong personal relationships in the pursuit of the truth and succeed in bringing the story to the public.
Uncover
Will the team uncover the truth and tell the story?
Committment
Is the Globe committed to telling the story, or will it become the latest enabler.
Family
Will the private lives of the investigative journalists survive their pursuit?
New boss
Marty Baron arrives at The Boston Globe as the new editor in charge. He asks the Spotlight team of investigative journalists to examine the serial molestation of children by priests of the Catholic Church.
Sue the church
Baron gets the publisher to agree to sue the church to unseal the documents. Family members and co-workers recoil at the idea.
Lawyers
The team chase down two lawyers for the victims, one who settled in secrecy and one who demands the public glare of the court. Both refuse to help them.
Unless he is wrong
Personal contacts in the city who had been involved in the cover-up warn the team to stay away from the case. As do others at the paper. The team decide to carry on, weary of the high stakes involved. Baron meets the Cardinal, who threatens him.
SNAP
The team find survivors, more priests, and a pattern of abuse and cover-up.
Shutdown
Friends and acquaintances turn the team away in their pursuit for answers, suggesting the Church has done a lot of good for the city.
90 priests
The team learn that the Church hierarchy had long known and covered up the abuse. They learn of the true scale of the abuse, and verify 87 possible abusive priests in Boston. Long-time friends begin to ignore the team. The team learn the Globe itself had missed warnings years ago. Baron wants the team to hold the 87 priest story in order to go after the institution in order to instill lasting change.
Missing documents
The team track down more victims and priests, and learn the key documents under seal are already in the public domain. The documents are missing. The Globe sues for their re-reinstatement. The team learn of personal connections to the abusive priests.
Interlude
9/11 pulls the team off the case for months. Robby, the head of the Spotlight team, meets a survivor from his high-school, and realizes he could have been a victim. He confronts the school and is turned away.
Same page
The team finds a judge to reinstate the key documents. Robby refuses to publish the now mature story and wants to get confirmation from the other side. His team is angered. Baron gives him six weeks.
A nice surprise
Robby gets thrown out of his lifelong friend's house for trying to get confirmation. The friend changes his mind and confirms the entire list of 70 priests. Robby thinks he should have done more years ago. Baron assures the team they have done a good job. The story is published by the Globe.