Trey Stark, a graduate of a law school in Minnesota, discovers that finding employment with mediocre grades from an evening law school can be very difficult. His friends are being employed by law firms in the city while Trey experiences only rejection. Trey is eventually hired as a debt collector by a firm engaged in purchasing bulk debt accounts and then brow beating the debtors to pay up. Trey takes on his new job with vigor and in time is making good money.
While Trey is paying off his bills, he is not taking pride in the type of work he is involved with. He eventually leaves the firm but continues collection work on his own as a source of income for the private practice firm he hopes to develop and make profitable. Shortly after opening his own firm, a friend hires Trey to represent her son who is charged with murder. The incident soon becomes a media bonanza with the young white man having shot and killed a young black man said to be a student on his way to school.
Trey Stark knows he is under-qualified so he discusses the case with close friend, Chris Sutton. Chris was a top student in his class and she offers to work with him on the defense which she sees as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Amid a deluge of criticism and constant verbal and media abuse, the two young lawyers work together under tremendous pressure. The question is will they be successful and take home the gold ring or will they continue to suffer the ignominy of a community and media massed against them?