Ex-federal prosecutor Michael Ryan has been estranged from his son Ned for three years when Ned is murdered, bludgeoned to death in the private room of a Soho art gallery. His daughter-in-law, wealthy socialite Jennifer Kneeland Ryan, has been indicted for the crime. Jennifer insists she's innocent and begs her father-in-law to defend her. Though Ryan wants to believe she's guilty, he can't turn her away. He takes the case. And as his ambivalence toward Jennifer intensifies, as the painful truth about his son's life begins to emerge, Ryan realizes that his own life is also on trial -- as a father, as a lawyer, and as a man.