Police Officer John Griffo died a hero in the line of duty. On national television, the entire country watched lifetime criminal J.J. Jackson shoot him in cold blood. But, facing death by lethal injection in seven days' time, Jackson insists that murder was never his intention. Attorney Sonny Ritter is trying to get his life back on track after an arrest for cocaine possession. An embarrassment to his ex-wife and his family name, he's slowly picking up the pieces when his brilliant law school classmate Kit Lake appears with a request for him to work on J.J. Jackson's final appeal. To turn down this gorgeous blond proves impossible and together they quickly undercover the seedy underworld of a city where corruption has tainted every level of its infrastructure. Racing against the executioner's clock, Kit and Sonny must reveal the truth if Jackson is to go on breathing.