Disillusioned with her first foray into corporate law, Mairead O'Clare leaves a high-powered Boston firm to join ranks with Sheldon Gold, a down-at-the-heels criminal attorney. Mairead barely knows how to find the courthouse, let alone how to navigate the treacherous waters of a criminal trial. And immediately she finds herself thrust in the middle of a capital murder case, when she is assigned to represent Alpha, a homeless man and self-proclaimed hermit charged with the murder of another homeless man on the banks of the Charles River." "Mairead's first job is to win Alpha's trust so he will participate in his own defense. As the investigation proceeds and the questions of guilt and innocence become murkier and murkier, she learns just how elusive the search for justice can be.