Plot

A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking.

A rich and successful lawyer, the Counselor, is about to marry his fiancée but soon becomes entangled in a complex drug plot with a middle-man known as Westray. The plan ends up taking a horrible twist and he must protect himself and his bride-to-be as the truth of the drug business is uncovered and targets are eliminated.—DJDC

The Counselor decides to get involved with one of his clients who happens to be be a lucrative drug smuggler and decides that a "one time" drug smuggle couldn't hurt his financial pockets more than they already are. Needing to wait only a few days to come up with the money to get involved with this endeavor, the plot unfolds, and unbeknownst to Reiner (Bardem) or the Counselor (Fassbender), Malkina intends to "double cross" them BOTH.—Cindi

Desperately in need of cash to pay off his rapidly-increasing debt, the Counselor--a suave and prominent lawyer--decides to enter the obscure world of drug trafficking, in an ill-advised, one-off deal that would make him rich enough to support a lavish lifestyle and his bride-to-be Laura. Driven by greed, the successful advocate is bent on putting to good use his connections to the criminal underworld--nightclub owner Reiner and seedy middleman Westray--ignoring the fact that theirs is a violent, destructive, and unforgiving world. Unwisely, the Counselor thinks that he knows all the angles to succeed. What happens if the deal goes wrong?—Nick Riganas

'The Counselor,' from a script by Cormac McCarthy, stars Michael Fassbender as the title character, a slick lawyer who is madly in love with Laura (Penelope Cruz). He asks her to marry him, and she agrees, though she is unaware that serious financial troubles have prompted him to fund a drug deal with a shady but established middleman named Westray (Brad Pitt), that could bring in millions. Part of the counselor's financial troubles stem from the fact that he's investing in a club being opened by his best friend Reiner (Javier Bardem), a hedonistic occasional client who has attained his wealth by any means necessary, and likes to keep his wife Malkina (Cameron Diaz) covered in all the accoutrements the wealthy enjoy. However, when the drug deal goes wrong, the Counselor is unprepared to deal with the fallout, and soon he's trying to protect his bride-to-be as well as himself from the wrath of a drug cartel that has no qualms about exacting revenge..

A man, known only as "The Counselor" (Michael Fassbender) and his girlfriend Laura (Penelope Cruz) are lying in bed and having oral sex. The Counselor is in love with Laura.

Somewhere in Mexico, cocaine is being packaged in barrels and concealed in a sewage truck. The truck is driven across the border and stored at a sewage treatment plant. At the plant, a component of the truck's engine is removed and given to the cartel member as the drivers are paid off and they leave.

The Counselor goes to Amsterdam on what he claims is a business trip but is actually a meeting with a diamond dealer (Bruno Ganz) in order to purchase an engagement ring for Laura.

The dealer educates the Counselor about diamond grading and says that the color of the diamond comes from its flaws. The dealer says that there is no perfect diamond, as that would be made of light. He says that red diamonds are the most expensive as they have the rarest flaw. The Counselor buys the cautionary diamond.

Back in the United States, The Counselor proposes to Laura, and she accepts. Later, he attends a party at a house owned by Reiner (Javier Bardem) and his girlfriend Malkina (Cameron Diaz). Malkina is a cold and calculating person.

The Counselor and Reiner have a lengthy discussion, during which Reiner claims that The Counselor is not capitalizing on his position of power as much as he could be. He discusses an upcoming drug deal he is going in on with Reiner, which would be The Counselor's first. Their discussion ends with Reiner describing a device called "the Bolito" which after being pulled around one's neck, self-constricts and decapitates the victim in 3-5 minutes after the device is dropped around the victim's neck. Reiner says that he does not trust Malkina.

Afterwards, at a dinner with Laura, The Counselor proposes marriage, and she accepts. Laura meets Malkina, who is astounded to see the expensive ring on Laura's finger. Laura says that she wants to get married in a church. Malkina tries to seduce Laura, but she gets very uncomfortable.

The Counselor meets with Westray (Brad Pitt), a business associate of Reiner's, to express interest in the drug deal with a four-thousand percent return rate. The shipment is 21,900 ounces, bought for $50 a kilo in Columbia and goes for over $2000 a kilo in Dallas. Westray says that The Counselor will clear roughly $20 million, and the money can be parked offshore and there are people who provide this as a service. The Counselor says that he plans to open up a club with Reiner with the proceeds. Reiner says that the club will be ready for opening in 2-3 weeks.

Westray warns The Counselor about becoming involved in such a deal, saying that Mexican cartels are merciless, particularly to lawyers. Westray says that 3000 people are killed Juarez, Mexico each year as a result of the drug wars. Despite this, the Counselor remains outwardly confident and unconcerned.

Later, The Counselor visits one of his clients, a prison inmate named Ruth (Rosie Perez) who is on trial for murder. Ruth's son is a biker and a high-level cartel member known as "The Green Hornet" (Richard Cabral) recently arrested for speeding (He was going at 206 MPH in a Japanese bike) and he had $12,000 on him, which the police assumed to be drug money. The Counselor agrees to bail him out of jail. The counselor doesn't know that the biker is a cartel member of the gang with whom he has just made a deal to finance the drug shipment.

The biker is released from jail and takes possession of the truck component. This meeting was being observed by 2 people using binoculars. The 2 observers report to Malkina and say that they have identified the biker with the truck component.

Malkina senses an opportunity to undermine the Counselor's upcoming deal and to profit for herself. Malkina employs "The Wireman" (Sam Spruell) to steal the drugs. She discovers that the biker is working for the cartels and has plans to pick up a truck with a drug shipment. The Wireman does this by decapitating the biker with a wire stretched across the highway. After collecting the component that will allow the sewage truck to start, The Wireman drives to the sewage treatment plant, where he steals the truck containing the cocaine.

Learning of this incident, Westray calls The Counselor to notify him that The Green Hornet is dead, and that the cocaine has been stolen, bleakly intoning The Counselor's culpability. Westray received a call from the drug suppliers that the biker was dead, the shipment is missing & the only lead is that the Counselor bailed the biker out just a few hours ago.

Westray says he is leaving town immediately and suggests the Counselor do the same, explaining that the cartel's ruthlessness extends to creating "snuff films" where kidnapping victims are filmed being decapitated. The Counselor makes an urgent call to Laura, arranging to meet her in another state, where he will explain the situation to her.

Simultaneously, both Ruth and the cartel link The Counselor to the death of the biker and the theft of the drugs. The cartel has found that he bailed out The Green Hornet, which appears as suspect timing and fully blameworthy for the putative purposes of the cartel. The Counselor seeks help from Reiner but receives nothing more than Reiner telling him that his fate is sealed.

In Texas, two cartel members pretending to be police officers pull over The Wireman and his accomplice. A shootout ensues when the accomplice shoots and kills one of the "officers" and wounds the other. The wounded cartel member manages to kill the accomplice and The Wireman, accidentally shooting the sewage truck and gunning down a passing-by driver. The surviving cartel member repossesses the truck with the drugs and delivers it to its final destination.

Reiner is accidentally killed by cartel members while attempting to capture him, and Laura is simultaneously kidnapped. In a last-ditch effort, The Counselor contacts Jefe (Ruben Blades), a high-ranking cartel member, for information on the whereabouts of Laura, Reiner and Westray. Jefe begins speaking philosophically, citing the life and poetry of Antonio Machado to underline his advice. Jefe darkly and mordantly advises the Counselor to resign himself to his fate that was created by the choices he made long beforehand, and that despite the Counselor's willingness to exchange his life for Laura's, it is too late.

After the truck is fixed and the wounded cartel member is cared for, the cartel member goes to the meeting location where the buyer (Dean Norris) gets his cocaine.

The Counselor goes back to Mexico, hoping to find Laura. A package is slipped under the door of his hotel room. He opens it and finds a DVD with "Hola!" written on the side. The Counselor breaks down completely, heavily implying that the disk contains an execution video of Laura from the cartel. Laura's decapitated body is dumped at a landfill.

Meanwhile, Malkina's failed effort to steal the drugs means that she is out the money she wants. She tracks Westray in London, hires a woman The Blonde (Natalie Dormer) to seduce him and steal his bank codes. She then has Westray brutally killed (with the Bolito) to get his computer to access the account. Malkina then meets her banker Michael (Goran Visnjic) at an expensive restaurant.

They talk about how she should use her money. She advises him that he is in over his head and that he needs to get out of the business because, if need be, he would be expendable. She coolly explains how she wants her profits and accounts to be handled and plans to move to Hong Kong.