Plot: Rozat Sabich - Rusty to most that know him, even in formal circumstances - is the Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Kindle County, Illinois. His wife, Barbara Sabich, has been struggling with focus on completing her Ph.D. dissertation in Mathemetics - a thus far ten year process - she who nonetheless is applying for a college teaching position. They are generally in a loving, supportive marriage, Barbara who seems to have gotten over Rusty's infidelity with his colleague Carolyn Polhemus, an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney. Carolyn is ambitious, she who, in part, used Rusty to try and climb up the ladder. Barbara will still throw the issue of Carolyn in his face whenever there are problems between the two. Rusty and Carolyn's affair is unknown to others in their personal and professional circles. Rusty is handed the most personal case of his career when his boss and mentor, Chief Prosecuting Attorney Raymond Horgan, assigns him the case to discover who killed Carolyn, her dead body found in her apartment in what looks initially to be a violent rape, with Carolyn eventually strangled and no sign of forced entry, leading to the belief her killer was whoever her lover or possibly someone she prosecuted. Raymond, who is in a difficult reelection campaign, wants a quick resolution to the investigation, as "finding the killer" will greatly increase his chances of getting reelected. Rusty tries to dissuade Raymond from giving him the case because of the affair of which Raymond is unaware, with Rusty eventually having no choice but to accept barring disclosure of the affair. As Rusty proceeds with the investigation, he takes steps to hide the affair largely to protect Barbara and their adolescent son, Nat Sabich. Those measures come back to bite him when they and other evidence collected by the police lead to him being charged for Carolyn's murder. Rusty hires Sandy Stern, one of his toughest adversaries in a number of previous cases. During the court proceedings, many involved do whatever they can protect their own interest regardless of the truth. Beyond Rusty being convicted or acquitted, a question thus becomes if the truth matters or if the murderer will ever be discovered.
Alternative Plot: Prosecuting attorney Raymond Horgan (Brian Dennehy) assigns his chief deputy, the taciturn Rusty Sabitch (Harrison Ford), to investigate the rape and murder of colleague Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi), unaware of their torrid affair. When evidence implicates Rusty, Horgan's political enemies demand his arrest, devastating Rusty's wife, Barbara (Bonnie Bedelia). In desperation, Rusty turns to crafty defense attorney Sandy Stein (Raul Julia), only to be stunned by his trial's revelations.
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