Marcus Barlowe is charged and eventually convicted of the second degree murder of Devina Adams. While Marcus admits that he has made many wrong turns of late in his life, including stealing a necklace off of Devina's already dead body, he vehemently professes his innocence with regard to the murder. Two people affected by the murder and conviction are Casey Barlowe, Marcus' older protector sister who believes that Marcus is innocent of the murder, and wealthy Eli Flint, Devina's boyfriend, who believes Marcus guilty as convicted. Complicating matters are not only that Casey and Devina were once best friends, that is until Devina started dating Eli six months ago when Devina cut off contact with Casey for reasons unknown to her, but that Casey and Eli are upper classmates in the same law school, top in their class. With fellow classmates Sarah Sharpe and PJ Ellis by her side, and with the conviction, Casey is able to look into the case on her own, each of the three law students able or at least willing to use the connections of their respective internships to look into various aspects otherwise not open to the general public, PJ further able to pull in an acquaintance, "off the record" investigator Liam Anderson. One unexpected addition to the team is Eli himself, who is willing to aid in the remote possibility that Marcus is indeed innocent meaning that Devina's actual murderer would still be on the loose.