Peter Joseph's feature-length essay film builds its argument in three parts, each aimed at a different pillar of accepted authority. The first uses comparative mythology to argue that the Jesus story borrows its structure from earlier solar deities like Horus and Mithras. The second revisits September 11th, laying out the case made by researchers who reject the official account of the attacks and question the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. The third traces the creation of the Federal Reserve and argues that a small circle of private bankers uses control of currency to engineer wars and recessions for profit. Archival footage, news clips, and text-heavy graphics carry most of the argument, backed by a synth-driven score and voiceover narration rather than on-camera interviews. The film became one of the most-viewed documentaries of its era and spawned two sequels, Zeitgeist: Addendum and Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, expanding its critique of banking and government into a broader proposal for a resource-based economy.