When Moses McGuire becomes the prime suspect in the murder of his own daughter's rapist, attorney Dismas Hardy--Moses's brother-in-law--agrees to defend him. But McGuire has fallen off the wagon, and his stay in prison could bring to light old secrets that would destroy Hardy and his closest colleagues' careers. As the overwhelming evidence against McGuire piles up, Hardy focuses on planting doubt in the minds of the jurors--until, in a feat of legal ingenuity that is staggering in both its implications and its simplicity, he sees a new way forward that might just save them all. But at what price?