An Officer and a Spy recap

French officer Georges Picquart takes command of army intelligence after Alfred Dreyfus has been convicted of spying and sent to Devil's Island. A recovered message leads Picquart to Ferdinand Esterhazy, whose handwriting matches the document central to Dreyfus's conviction. Picquart also learns that the original case relied on irrelevant and later forged secret evidence. His superiors refuse to reopen it, transfer him abroad, and eventually imprison him, while Esterhazy is acquitted. Picquart passes his findings to civilian allies; Émile Zola's public accusation turns the affair into a national crisis. Major Henry's forgery is finally exposed, but a second court-martial still convicts Dreyfus. A pardon frees him, and in 1906 the courts fully clear him. Dreyfus returns to the army, while Picquart becomes a general and minister of war.

In January 1895 Major Georges Picquart watches Captain Alfred Dreyfus publicly stripped of rank after conviction for giving French military secrets to Germany. Dreyfus loudly insists he is innocent before being sent to permanent isolation on Devil's Island. Picquart, who had taught him and does not like him, assumes the verdict is sound. Soon afterward Picquart is selected to replace the ill Colonel Sandherr as head of the Statistical Section, the army's secret intelligence unit. He inherits a small staff including Major Henry, Lauth, and Gribelin, as well as covert methods for recovering material discarded by foreign embassies. The office's records reveal how strongly its members remain invested in Dreyfus's guilt.

A torn message reconstructed from German embassy waste, the petit bleu, is addressed to Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. Picquart investigates discreetly and finds that Esterhazy is financially desperate, has access to military information, and has handwriting remarkably like the bordereau that secured Dreyfus's conviction. Because the new leak occurred while Dreyfus was imprisoned far away, it cannot be explained by the official case. Picquart reports his discovery through General Gonse and the General Staff, expecting a fresh inquiry. Instead, his superiors tell him that the two matters must be kept separate. Their priority is avoiding an admission that the army convicted the wrong man.

Picquart examines the secret dossier shown to Dreyfus's judges without the defense's knowledge. He finds no reliable proof that points to Dreyfus and discovers that material has been presented misleadingly. Surveillance of Esterhazy adds to the case against him, yet Picquart's superiors suppress the petit bleu and obstruct further investigation. Henry and others in the Statistical Section become hostile to their new chief. Picquart is removed from the office and sent on extended inspections that carry him farther from Paris and into increasing danger. He realizes that the army is not merely cautious: senior officers are actively preserving the old verdict regardless of the evidence.

Before being sent to a remote posting in Tunisia, Picquart gives his lawyer friend Louis Leblois enough information to act if he disappears. Leblois brings the matter to Senator Scheurer-Kestner, who becomes convinced of Dreyfus's innocence. Pressure for a review grows, and Esterhazy is publicly identified as the probable author of the bordereau. The army responds by protecting Esterhazy and discrediting Picquart. A court-martial acquits Esterhazy after a proceeding designed to preserve the institution's position. Picquart, recalled as a witness but treated as the offender, faces arrest for revealing military secrets while the man he believes to be the real spy walks free.

Émile Zola publishes an open accusation that names the officials responsible for the wrongful conviction and cover-up. His prosecution for libel becomes a public examination of the affair, dividing France between defenders of Dreyfus and nationalists determined to uphold the army. Picquart testifies and is attacked professionally and personally, then imprisoned while legal actions are arranged against him. The evidence used to reinforce Dreyfus's guilt includes a document supplied by Henry that appears decisive but is in fact fabricated. As challenges reach higher courts and governments fall, inconsistencies in the secret file become impossible to contain.

Major Henry is confronted with proof that he forged the document used to sustain the case. He confesses and dies in prison, destroying the credibility of the army's secret evidence. Dreyfus is brought back from Devil's Island for a new military trial at Rennes. Despite the collapse of the case, the judges again convict him, adding 'extenuating circumstances'; he later accepts a presidential pardon so that he can leave prison. Picquart is freed and eventually restored. The struggle continues until 1906, when the Court of Cassation annuls Dreyfus's conviction completely. Dreyfus is reinstated and decorated, while Picquart is promoted to general and appointed minister of war, giving both men official vindication after more than a decade.

Henry's forged evidence is exposed; he confesses and dies in prison. The collapse of the army's case leads to Dreyfus being returned from Devil's Island for a new court-martial at Rennes, but the military judges again find him guilty, this time with supposed extenuating circumstances. He accepts a presidential pardon to regain his freedom while continuing to seek legal vindication. Picquart, also released and restored to public life, sees the campaign continue until France's highest court fully annuls Dreyfus's conviction in 1906. Dreyfus is reinstated in the army and awarded the Legion of Honour. Picquart is promoted to general and becomes minister of war. Their public vindication comes after years of imprisonment, exile, professional destruction, and political conflict, and it confirms that the documents used to sustain the original verdict were false.