To the outside world, it looks like Dismas Hardy is finally on top. A managing partner at his thriving law firm but beneath the surface bravado, Hardy has lost his faith in the law. Now he has a high-profile and challenging case: a seventeen-year-old arrested for the double slaying of his girlfriend and his English teacher. As the case moves swiftly to trial, Hardy can't even turn to his old friend Abe Glitsky for help. San Francisco has been seized by a wave of violence and an embattled Glitsky must somehow stop the criminal upsurge while being hounded by a hostile media. With the city on the verge of panic, Hardy's search for the truth takes him down a perilous path. With very little belief in his young client's innocence, and even less in the legal system, Hardy has to conquer his own demons if he is to clear his client . . . and save himself.