Coca-Cola sells itself as the drink of freedom and American optimism, and journalist Mark Thomas sets out to test that image against the company's actual conduct. He travels to South America, India, and the United States, talking to bottling-plant workers, farmers, and local activists who accuse Coca-Cola and its suppliers of environmental damage, labor abuses, and strong-arm business practices. Thomas, a longtime critic of the company, follows specific complaints on the ground rather than staying with press releases: water disputes tied to bottling plants, allegations of intimidation against union organizers, and the gap between corporate sustainability language and what communities near the plants describe living with. The film keeps returning to the same question in each country: who bears the cost when a global brand needs cheap water, cheap labor, and cooperative local suppliers? By the end Thomas has assembled a case file rather than a takedown, letting workers and executives make their own arguments on camera while the consumer backlash the company has faced abroad plays out as the backdrop to his reporting.