Plot

A widow investigates an insurance fraud, chasing leads to a pair of Panama City law partners exploiting the world's financial system.

When her idyllic vacation takes an unthinkable turn, Ellen Martin (Meryl Streep) begins investigating a fake insurance policy, only to find herself down a rabbit hole of questionable dealings that can be linked to a Panama City law firm and its vested interest in helping the world's wealthiest citizens amass larger fortunes. Founding partners Jürgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) and Ramón Fonseca (Antonio Banderas) are experts in the seductive ways shell companies and offshore accounts help the rich and powerful prosper. They are about to show us that Ellen's predicament only hints at the tax evasion, bribery and other illicit absurdities that the super wealthy indulge in to support the world's corrupt financial system. Zipping through a kaleidoscope of detours in China, Mexico, Africa (via Los Angeles) and the Caribbean en route to 2016's Panama Papers publication - where journalists leaked the secret, encrypted documents of Mossack Fonseca's high-profile patrons - THE LAUNDROMAT's ensemble cast includes Jeffrey Wright, Melissa Rauch, Jeff Michalski, Jane Morris, Robert Patrick, David Schwimmer, Cristela Alonzo, Larry Clarke, Will Forte, Chris Parnell, Nonso Anozie, Larry Wilmore, Jessica Allain, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Matthias Schoenaerts, Rosalind Chao, Kunjue Li, Ming Lo, with James Cromwell and Sharon Stone.—Netflix

The film opens with Jürgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) and Ramón Fonseca (Antonio Banderas) introducing themselves and the concept and system of money laundering. For the rest of the film, Mossack and Fonseca act as narrators for three stories of people around the world that are affected by the company Mossack Fonseca.

Ellen Martin (Meryl Streep) and her husband Joe (James Cromwell) are on a pleasure boat at Lake George, New York when it suddenly capsizes, drowning Joe. When Ellen tries to get compensation from the boating company for Joe's death, she is unable to because the reinsurance company that the boat companies' owner and his son Matthew (David Schwimmer) bought their policy from, was sold to another company based out of Nevis (Panama) that is actually a trust to one of Mossack's shell companies and is under investigation by the IRS for fraud. Intially the response of Mossack's firm to Matthew is that their insurance policy had lapsed prior to the accident. Manager of the trust Malchus is paid $15 per signature by Mossack to act as the Director, without being involved in the operations of the firm.

After her & Matthew's attempts to contact Mossack and the Nevis-based company are unsuccessful (When the insurance company refuses to pay, Matthew still makes an attempt to provide some financial settlement to the victims, with the limited means at his disposal), Ellen travels to Nevis herself to confront the manager of the trust, Malchus Boncamper (Jeffrey Wright), but he tricks and evades her and escapes to Miami only to be caught and arrested by IRS Agents at Miami's airport.

As soon as Malchus is arrested, Mossack back dates his recent transactions and selects another random employee to become of owner of 25,000 of his group/trust companies. Mossack provides shell services to all Wealth management desks of banks and has basically helped setup 240,000 shell firms globally, including for members of the Mexican drug cartels.

The second story is about Simone (Jessica Allain), the daughter of an African billionaire, Charles (Nonso Anozie), who discovers that her best friend is having an affair with her father. In order to prevent Simone from telling her mother about the affair, Charles offers her shares from one of his investment companies that are supposedly worth $20 million. She accepts his offer, but when she travels to Mossack's offices in Panama City to claim ownership of the shares, they turn out to be worthless as they are actually part of a shell company under Mossack that only existed on paper.

The third story is a dramatization of part of the Wang Lijun incident, specifically the death of Neil Heywood. Neil (renamed "Maywood" (Matthias Schoenaerts) in the film), an intermediary for wealthy Chinese looking to funnel money abroad, visits a Chongqing hotel to meet Gu Kailai (Rosalind Chao). He demands and pressures Gu for a much higher price if he is to continue to launder money for her family through one of Mossack's shell companies. Gu retaliates by murdering Maywood through poisoning the drinks that she serves him. She discloses the incident and reports Maywood to a party official who secretly records the conversation and reports her. The story ends with Gu and her husband Bo Xilai (Jesse Wang) arrested for corruption and for Maywood's murder.

The film ends with the leaks of the Panama Papers and subsequent police raids on Mossack Fonseca, the brief imprisonment of Mossack and Fonseca, and the shutdown of the firm. However, the two, as well as Meryl Streep herself acting out of character, remind viewers that there are still many such companies in existence and the practice of money laundering and corruption through fake trusts and shell companies based in tax havens is still widespread. The film ends with Streep making a clear and bold statement about the immediate need for campaign finance reforms in the US.