For thirty years, Brendan Murphy has done the impossible. He has kept his client, Professor Edward Wynne Carter, III, alive on Virginia's Death Row. Brendan knows Ed did not kill his pregnant wife in the fall of 1983. But now Ed's execution date has been set.

Thirty years ago, when she was just out of law school, McKenzie Fitzgerald, interviewed Ed’s alibi witness. But she forgot to turn on the tape recorder. The next day, the witness vanished. McKenzie convinced herself that Ed was guilty and lied to cover up her mistake. Now a nationally renowned civil litigator and former Harvard law professor, McKenzie is a nominee to be a justice on the United States Supreme Court. But when she learns that Ed’s execution date has been set, McKenzie must choose between saving Ed’s life and saving her career. Will Brendan uncover McKenzie’s secret in time to stop Ed’s execution?