When Stanley Hastings takes on Joe Balfour as a client, an ex-con who has done time for killing a man in a barroom brawl, he embarks on a series of embarrassing situations that will lead him to a notorious blackmailer.

When his hotshot lawyer boss is charged with the murder of his girlfriend and subjected to the death penalty, Stanley Hastings endures a nightmarish, sensational trial that is hampered by the unavailability of key witnesses and his ties to the defendant.