Documentary examines the concept of the corporation throughout recent history up to its present-day dominance. In the mid-1800s the corporation won the status of a legal "person". Imbued with a "personality" of pure self-interest, the next 100 years saw its rise to dominance, made possible by a single-minded drive for profit. The corporation created unprecedented wealth, but at what cost? The remorseless rationale of "externalities"?the effects of corporate activity on the physical world and people ?external? to it?is responsible for countless cases of illness, death, poverty, pollution, exploitation and lies. After point-by-point analysis, "The Corporation" delivers a disturbing diagnosis: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of a psychopath.