With the Suez Crisis brewing in the background, a small team of British journalists prepares to launch an hourlong investigative news show on BBC television called The Hour. Producer Bel Rowley (Romola Garai) pulls in Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw), the best reporter she knows, to serve as the show's home affairs correspondent, while the handsome and charismatic Hector Madden (Dominic West) gets the coveted position of presenter.