A week before Christmas in Washington, D.C., Supreme Court Justice Charles F. Lowell gives twenty-four-year-old Elizabeth Quinn, a typist at the Department of Justice, an envelope full of cash and commits suicide a few minutes later. The next day, the body of Elizabeth Quinn is discovered in the Potomac River. After finding Quinn’s wallet and identification among his belongings, police arrest Vietnam veteran Carl Wayne Anderson, a deaf homeless man living in a nearby sewage pipe. Public defender Kathleen Riley is assigned to his case. Anderson tells Kathleen he is innocent. He found Quinn’s body along the river and took her wallet, which contained $9, but a homeless man named Michael John Guthridge robbed her before he got to the body. When Kathleen sends a private detective to a homeless encampment looking for him, Michael Guthridge attacks the private eye with a knife and runs away. Eddie Sanger, a lobbyist working for the United Milk Producers, is called to serve on jury duty. Eddie tries to get out of service as he has an important bill coming up for a vote in Congress, but is unable to do so. When Eddie’s bill is in trouble, he sleeps with Congresswoman Grace Comisky to persuade her to change her vote. As the trial begins, Assistant United States Attorney Charlie Stella presents his opening statement contending that Carl Wayne Anderson was sleeping in Elizabeth Quinn’s unlocked car to get out of the cold. Charlie Stella suggests that when Quinn returned to the K Street parking lot, Anderson murdered her, and dragged her body to the adjacent river. When a forensic scientist testifies about the knife used to kill Elizabeth Quinn, Eddie Sanger notices something strange. During a recess, he leaves a message for Kathleen Riley asking her to call a nearby pay phone. Without identifying himself, Eddie suggests Kathleen inquire whether the knife wound was made by a left-handed or right-handed man. When court resumes, the forensic scientist says the wound was inflicted by a right-handed man. Kathleen spontaneously tosses an item to Anderson, who catches it with his left hand. Judge Matthew Helms chastises her for the stunt. Kathleen realizes it was Eddie Sanger who made the anonymous phone call, and as she passes by him, she tells him not to do something like that again. When Eddie tries to engage her in conversation, Kathleen tells him she is not allowed to talk to the jurors. Nonetheless, Eddie follows Kathleen to her car. As she pulls away, Judge Helms observes Eddie watching her drive off. Eddie goes to the K Street parking lot and walks to the site along the river where Elizabeth Quinn’s body was found. He notices a sleeping homeless woman wearing a gold Congressional pin on her jacket. He trades his shoes and socks for the pin and gives it to Kathleen, telling her it is a clue, because very few such pins were made. Kathleen tells him to get lost, but a moment later, the homeless Michael Guthridge attacks her with a knife. Eddie runs to her rescue, but Guthridge stabs him. Kathleen takes Eddie back to her office to bandage the wound. Eddie kisses Kathleen’s cheek, but she resists. Before court resumes, Eddie corners Kathleen with the results of his investigation. There were thirty pairs of gold cufflinks given out in mid-December. Deputy Attorney General Paul Gray received one of those sets of cufflinks. Gray also had clerks working for him late into the evening and Elizabeth Quinn was one of those clerks. Further investigation shows that the pin is only gold plated and many were made. Judge Matthew Helms calls Kathleen to his office, reporting that he saw Eddie standing near her car and asks if she had contact with him. Kathleen denies having contact. After a police detective testifies about a large homeless encampment in an old railway station, Eddie goes there and finds Michael Guthridge’s dead body with his throat slit open. The next day, Kathleen asks for a continuance until they can determine if Guthridge’s killing is connected to Elizabeth Quinn’s murder. Judge Helms agrees to consider the request. Eddie shows Kathleen a key to a Justice Department filing cabinet he found on Guthridge’s body. The two slip into the Justice Department after hours and find the key fits a cabinet containing files from 1968. Elizabeth Quinn was working on transferring the files to computer disk, but once completed, those files and all the paperwork were sent to a nearby storage facility. Eddie mentions that Deputy Attorney General Paul Gray prosecuted cases for the Justice Department in the late 1960s. The next day, Eddie and Kathleen go to a law library to read cases from 1968. Kathleen learns that Supreme Court Justice Charles Lowell was the presiding judge in two cases Paul Gray prosecuted during that time. However as they continue their research, Judge Helms comes into the law library and nearly catches Kathleen and Eddie together. Later that night, Eddie waits outside Kathleen’s apartment for her to return. She tells him to leave, but he kisses her, and she reciprocates. The next day, Judge Helms announces he is going to sequester the jury to avoid any potential jury tampering. Carl Wayne Anderson takes the stand, explaining that he had a psychotic breakdown while serving in the Vietnam War. During treatment at a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital, he contracted meningitis and was rendered deaf. His wife left him shortly afterward and his life spiraled into homelessness. Anderson insists he did not kill Elizabeth Quinn. Kathleen goes to the K Street parking lot where Elizabeth Quinn’s car is still parked, since police have neglected to tow it away. She breaks into the car and finds an audio cassette in the car’s tape deck. Kathleen tells Judge Helms that she has new evidence to present in court the next day. Kathleen also meets Paul Gray. She returns to the public defender’s office and plays the tape for her boss, Morty Rosenthal. The tape is Supreme Court Justice Charles Lowell’s confession to accepting a bribe while presiding over the 1968 case United States vs. Cook. Lowell accepted an appointment to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in exchange for dismissing charges of voter fraud against a well-connected defendant. Elizabeth Quinn noticed the irregularity while transferring the case to computer disk and confronted him. Lowell gave her his confession tape to be made public after his death. Lowell did not name anyone else on the tape, but indicates others also conspired with him. Kathleen returns to the courtroom late at night to get the law book citing U.S. vs. Cook. However, someone follows her into the building. He grabs Kathleen and she cuts his right forearm with a knife, then dashes away. Meanwhile, a sequestered Eddie Sanger sets off a fire alarm to slip out of his hotel. Eddie gets to the courthouse just as Kathleen runs out. The next day in court, Kathleen calls Judge Matthew Helms to the stand. Helms says he cannot be a witness in a case over which he is presiding. Kathleen announces she has turned evidence over to the police, seeking the arrest of Helms for first-degree murder of Elizabeth Quinn. She reminds Helms that he was the prosecuting attorney on U.S. vs. Cook, and accuses him of conspiring with presiding judge Charles Lowell. She claims that while Lowell got the appointment to the Court of Appeals, Helms was appointed to fill Lowell’s seat as a federal judge. Helms denies the allegation, declares a mistrial, and orders the bailiff to remove Kathleen from the courtroom. However, as Helms repeatedly slams the gavel, blood starts dripping from the knife wound on his right arm, where Kathleen cut him. Police arrest Helms, and Eddie and Kathleen embrace.