When Supreme Court justices Rosenberg and Jensen are killed within hours of each other, Tulane University law student Darby Shaw sets out to investigate the double-assassination. Determining that the main link between the disparate justices was their environmentalism, Darby develops a theory behind the assassinations in a report titled “The Pelican Brief.” Dismissing her work as far-flung, she shares it with her law professor, Thomas Callahan, who is also her lover. Callahan shares the report with his friend, Gavin Verheek, a lawyer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Meanwhile, Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham gets an anonymous phone call from a lawyer, calling himself “Garcia,” who claims he might know something about the assassinations but stops himself from giving any further information. At the White House, Gavin Verheek shares Darby’s brief with Chief of Staff Fletcher Coal, who shows it to the President. Although the report seems far-fetched, FBI director Denton Voyles is looking into it, as it implicates the White House in a conspiracy. Coal would rather the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) handle the investigation, even though it is not under their jurisdiction. In New Orleans, Louisiana, Darby goes to dinner with Thomas Callahan, who has been struggling with alcoholism. Callahan drinks too much, and Darby refuses to get into his car. As she starts to walk home, Callahan’s car explodes. The traumatized Darby is ushered into a parked car by a man who claims to be Sergeant Rupert of the New Orleans police department. She gives her name, and the man disappears. Later, as she waits to be seen by an emergency room doctor, Darby learns from police lieutenant Olsen that “Sgt. Rupert” was a fraud. Fearing for her life, she flees the hospital, checks into a hotel room, and calls Gavin Verheek, who confirms that the Pelican Brief has been seen by the FBI and others he cannot name. Darby informs him that Callahan was murdered, and she believes the killers are after her, too. Soon, the President urges Denton Voyles to back off from his investigation of the Pelican Brief, and Voyles agrees. Still in New Orleans, Darby dons various disguises to avoid being followed. She establishes contact with Gray Grantham of the Washington Herald, and sends her friend, Alice Stark, to check on her apartment. Alice confirms the apartment has been ransacked, and Darby’s computer was stolen. At Callahan’s funeral, Gavin Verheek overhears Alice Stark spreading a rumor that Darby has gone to visit an aunt in Colorado. Later that day, he gets a call from Darby, arranging to meet him at the Riverwalk tourist area the next day. However, Khamel, the assassin who killed Justices Rosenberg and Jensen, murders Verheek and impersonates him. Darby falls for the ruse, but just as Khamel is about to shoot her, he is gunned down by the man called “Rupert.” Still believing Khamel is Verheek, Darby panics and flees. She calls Gray Grantham, and arranges to meet him in New York City. There, Darby explains the Pelican Brief to Gray: a Southern oil magnate named Victor Mattiece, who was the President’s largest campaign contributor, has been engaged in a seven-year legal battle against Green Fund, an environmental group protesting Mattiece’s plans to dredge a channel through protected Louisiana marshlands. Green Fund successfully argued that the nearly extinct brown pelican would lose its habitat if Mattiece’s plans went through, and a judge upheld an injunction against drilling in the marshlands. Mattiece has appealed the decision, and an upcoming trial is set to take place at the New Orleans Court of Appeals. The decision will likely lead to another appeal, to be heard by the Supreme Court in the next three-to-five years. Darby’s brief theorizes that Mattiece had the two environmentalist Supreme Court judges killed so that his crony, the President, could nominate their replacements while still in office. In Washington, D.C., Fletcher Coal meets with Matthew Barr, a private contractor for the CIA, whose operatives have been following Darby and Gray Grantham. Learning that the President asked Voyles to back off the investigation, Barr warns Coal that the President is committing obstruction of justice, and Coal will be his “fall guy.” To avoid scandal if the Pelican Brief is leaked, Coal recommends the President appoint two environmentalist justices as Rosenberg and Jensen’s replacements, and that he call for an investigation of Mattiece. The President ignores the recommendations, urging Coal to stop the brief from coming to light. Darby helps Gray track down “Garcia,” the anonymous caller who claimed to have information about the assassinations. They discover he is really Curtis Morgan, a gas and oil lawyer at the firm of White & Blazevich, which represents Mattiece. Darby goes to the firm’s offices, in the guise of a prospective client, and discovers Curtis Morgan was killed one week ago. Gray seeks Morgan’s widow, Sara Ann, who hands over the key to a safe-deposit box her husband maintained without her knowledge. Posing as Sara Ann, Darby gains access to the safe-deposit box and takes its contents: a videocassette and signed affidavit. Leaving the bank, Darby and Gray are followed to the parking lot. When Gray starts his car, Darby recognizes the noise she heard before Callahan’s car exploded and stops him. They flee, and narrowly escape several assassins. At the Washington Herald headquarters, they view the videocassette, in which Curtis Morgan explains a legal memo he discovered that stated, in coded language, Mattiece’s plans to assassinate Rosenberg and Jensen. Preparing an exposé to be published the next day, Gray makes calls to Marty Velmano, a senior partner at White & Blazevich, Fletcher Coal, and Denton Voyles, who admits off-the-record that the President asked him to back off the investigation. Voyles predicts a grand jury will be called as quickly as tomorrow. He offers to help Darby, and she asks to be flown to an undisclosed location. Voyles agrees, as long as he is able to contact her through Gray. Darby and Gray fly together. He drops her off at a tropical location, and they embrace. Sometime later, Mattiece has been indicted, Fletcher Coal has resigned, and the President is no longer expected to run for re-election. Darby watches from her seaside home as Gray is interviewed on a television news program. She smiles when the reporter suggests “Darby Shaw” is a composite character, and Gray concedes that she is almost too good to be true.