Robert Greenwald's film builds its case town by town, starting with a family-owned hardware store in Middlefield, Ohio, that closes after Walmart opens nearby, and a small Missouri community that voted down a supercenter and won. Former store managers describe pressure to falsify time records so hourly workers wouldn't be paid for overtime, while employees in Florida and elsewhere talk about wages too low to cover health insurance, pushing families onto public assistance programs that Greenwald tallies as a hidden taxpayer subsidy to the company. The film crosses to Bangladesh and China, where interviews and factory footage document the wages and conditions behind Walmart's supply chain. It also examines the company's environmental record, including sewage violations at store sites, and a security guard's account of racial profiling of shoppers. Company statements and public relations footage appear throughout, set against the workers and small business owners the film argues bear the cost of the low prices. It plays as an advocacy piece, built from dozens of firsthand accounts rather than a single narrator's argument.