The Newsreader is set in the maelstrom of a commercial television newsroom in 1986. Dale Jennings is a diligent young reporter who is desperate to become a newsreader and Helen Norville is a notoriously 'difficult' star newsreader determined to build credibility. Over three months, the pair cover an extraordinary chain of news events from the shock of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, to the hype of Halley's Comet and the complexities of the AIDS crisis. A deep bond is formed that will upend their lives and transform the very fabric of the nightly news bulletin.