A small-time, down-and-out, poverty-stricken, alcoholic sixty-one-year-old attorney is offered the case of a lifetime: a wrongful death claim involving the drowning of a young man in Long Beach, Washington. He must pull himself together in order to competently handle the case, and he must find the strength and resources that will allow him to bring it to resolution. His adversary is a large Seattle defense law firm. Soon after accepting the case, strange and unpleasant things begin happening to him and those around him. These events become increasingly dangerous and life-threatening. It comes down to a race between the trial date and whether the lawyer can hold on emotionally and financially until then. The case causes him to lose one romantic relationship and start another.