When Malcolm Hill, a black eighteen-year-old voting rights worker, is arrested for murder, white congressman Chase Brevard of Massachusetts finds his life transformed in a single moment by the appearance of Malcolm's photo on the news, enveloping him, Malcolm, and Malcolm's mother in a media firestorm that threatens their lives.

When Ricardo Arias is found dead, the police investigation uncovers an estranged wife, an ugly custody battle over their six-year-old daughter, and a murder suspect, San Francisco defense attorney Christopher Paget.