It's a bad day for the jurors when Jessica is the foreperson of the jury hearing the case of a man claiming self-defense in the death of an enraged husband.

Jessica and a colleague named Ames Caufield are on their way home from a literary conference when their car breaks down in a small, southern rural area. While waiting for the car to be fixed, they check into a local inn run by a former student of Ames. Later that night, the woman's son becomes the prime suspect when the sheriff discovers the local bully is found murdered. While working to prove the young man's innocence, Jessica soon discovers the reason why Ames is so quick to want to help has to do with a past romance he had with the young man's mother.