Plot Synopsis

Claire Darrow is a small-town trial lawyer with a degree from Yale, a passionate commitment to standing up for the little guy, and a simple formula for winning over juries: tell the truth. Her talents are admired not only by her associates at the firm that bears the family name, but also by the charming, funny assistant district attorney Miles. The widowed Claire and Miles keep up a playfully teasing banter, and her continued refusal to go to dinner with him has become something of a running joke. Her principles were shaped by her late father; she has also continued his preferred ritual for the day of closing arguments, starting the morning with the purchase of a dozen donuts at a popular spot run by Dave. When Dave is arrested for committing an after-hours jewelry store robbery, Claire unhesitatingly volunteers to defend this man she has known for years. But eyewitness accounts and other factors make the case an uphill battle and her only hope is to find evidence exonerating her client. Complicating her task is another formidable challenge -- her semi-estranged mother Joanna, a sharp, glamorous corporate lawyer who has left New York in the wake of a scandal at her firm. Having charted a very opposite path from that of the unapologetically materialistic Joanna, Claire is not eager to have her mother back in her life. Claire tries to keep her mother at arm's length, only to find that Joanna's counsel has influenced Dave, who is increasingly panicked about his trial prospects. As Claire races against the clock to keep her client out of jail, she is forced to reconsider her own long-held judgments about her mother.