Scott Fenney is a hotshot corporate lawyer at a big Dallas firm. At 33, in the prime of his life, he rakes in $750,000 a year, drives a Ferrari, and comes home every night to a mansion in Dallas' most exclusive neighbourhood.He also comes home to one of Dallas' most beautiful women, with whom he has a much-loved daughter, Boo. For Fenney, life could not be better. But when a senator's son is killed in a hit-and-run, Fenney is asked by a state judge to put his air-conditioned lifestyle on hold to defend the accused: a black, heroin-addicted prostitute, a client very different from the people Fenney usually represents. And, more importantly, she is not going be paying $350 an hour for the privilege of his services.
Under fire from all sides, Fenney drafts in a public defender. Yet as Scott prepares to hand the case over to Bobby, he feels increasingly guilty about the path he is taking, because Scott still believes in the principle of justice. The question is: does he believe in it strongly enough to jeopardise everything he holds dear? And to what lengths is the dead man's power-hungry father prepared to go to test Fenney's resolve?
