What kind of emotional burdens does the person who accidentally harmed or even killed another have to live with and how does it shape the rest of the perpetrator's life? What kind of special help might they need to get beyond the guilt? Abrasive lawyer Martin Southby, 35, a successful attorney and generally lousy human being who was embittered by the harsh treatment he received as a child after inadvertently injuring another child, learns about himself and finds he has an unexpected role to play as he defends falsely accused small town resident Ken Matheson, 40, whose secret it that he injured his brother when he was only five years old and was a family outcast for the rest of his youth and who has never been able to go on with life. Matheson is falsely accused of a serious crime by Florence Patterson, a wealthy woman with a desire to show everyone that with her money she can always get her way. Southby is hardly inclined to fight although he denies the charges but agrees to have Southby defend him When Patterson dies in the midst of the legal battle Southby show that she did so while trying to plant false evidence against Matheson. Her estate agrees to a large settlement with Matheson. But the best thing that happens to Matheson is that once he understands the other man's thinking, Southby tells him what he needs to hear so he can spend the rest of his days doing good instead of hiding.