Linda Tripp’s 1998 betrayal of Monica Lewinsky, setting her up to be questioned by lawyers for Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, had its roots five years earlier: sidelined from the White House after the suicide of her boss, Tripp feels ill-used. She considers selling her story to sensation-hungry literary agent Lucianne Goldberg, but inside knowledge has a limited shelf-life. But when chance brings West Wing outcast Monica to Linda’s Pentagon workplace in 1996, she recognises a kindred spirit in the former intern.

Meanwhile, an article about a sexual harassment accusation against Bill Clinton while he was Governor of Arkansas forces a reluctant Paula Jones into the nation’s gaze when she decides to start a lawsuit.