劇情簡介
Under pressure to accept a plea bargain resisted by a street-wise client, public defender Carter (Roger Guenveur Smith) stands by his client, angering the judge, then his boss (Anna Maria Horsford). At home, Carter's wife Sharice (Monica Calhoun), a socialite who grew up in the suburbs, chafes at the financial and personal strain of raising two young children in the inner city. Sharice pushes Carter to use her uncle's connections to get a job in a fancy downtown law firm. Carter agrees to leave the defender's office for a new job, though not to join a fancy law firm. Instead, following his conscience, he opens a law office in the inner city to fight against a criminal justice system that prizes efficiency over real justice. When Carter and his team of lawyers and activists launch a controversial direct action campaign targeting the court system, Sharice must decide whether to stay with her husband or take their two young children to the suburbs. Carter struggles to keep his family together, expand the direct action campaign, and survive a crackdown by corrupt government officials
公設辯護律師 Carter (Roger Guenveur Smith)迫於上司的壓力接手一個案子為平民作辯護。出於正義感,Carter竭力為自己的當事人爭取利益,這嚴重地激怒了本想操縱本案結果的法官和他的頂頭上司。這也使Carter的飯碗岌岌可危。而此時Carter的妻子Sharice (Monica Calhoun),一個出生於富人區的的社會名流正在為如何在市中心惡劣的環境中撫養兩個年幼的孩子而頭痛不已,生活的艱辛使她倍感疲憊。此次Carter得罪了法官和老闆,Sharice覺得正好可藉此讓丈夫換換環境,於是她不斷督促丈夫利用自己叔叔的關係到市區的一家名律師行就職。Carter離開了公設辯護律師行,不過他並沒有去妻子推薦的律師行就職,而是自己成立了一個律師事務所,去對抗傳統的腐朽的法律體系,給法律以真正的公正。當Carter和他的同僚以及擁護者們雄心勃勃地向傳統的法律體系發起挑戰時,Sharice必須決定是和丈夫並肩作戰還是帶著兩個孩子遠離這個是非之地。Carter在此時顯示出了驚人的毅力和戰鬥力,他在維護自己家庭的完整性的同時,仍積極投身於尋求真正的法律公正的運動,同時還要面對腐敗的政府官員的瘋狂迫害。