Two gym instructors (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) accidentally stumble across and try to sell a disk containing the memoirs of CIA agent Osborne Cox (John Malkovich), who has recently resigned from the agency in a fit of pique. Their attempts at blackmail go wildly awry, gradually engulfing Osborne Cox's estranged wife (Tilda Swinton) and her lover (George Clooney), whose involvement triggers a series of tragic consequences. In "Burn After Reading" Joel and Ethan Coen take on the spy thriller genre and reinvent it in their unique voice - combining humor and violence in completely unexpected ways, and wrapping it all up with a the verbal dexterity that makes their work so distinctive.