Arthur Winslow, the successful CEO of a Midwest hospital, begins an affair with a beautiful hospital receptionist, unaware that she and her husband are setting him up for an embarrassing and costly sexual harassment claim. Hospital attorney Karen Hayes is called on to defend Winslow against the claim, but she soon finds herself defending him against a murder charge as well after his ailing wife dies from the administration of a drug to which she was known to be allergic. Karen enlists the aid of Matthew Stoker, a smooth, aggressive young trial lawyer. At his law firm she discovers an abundance of unethical practices. A trail of clues leads her to a long-forgotten file at the firm—and a fight for her own life and that of her infant son.