Ex-federal prosecutor Michael Ryan has been estranged from his twenty-seven year old son Ned for 3 years when Ned is murdered. His daughter-in-law, wealthy socialite Jennifer Kneeland Ryan, has been indicted for the crime. Ned was bludgeoned to death in the private room of a Soho art gallery. Jennifer insists she's innocent and begs her father-in-law to defend her. Ryan wants to believe she's guilty, to bury his grief for the son he hardly knew and get on with his life, but he can't turn her away. He agrees to take the case.