Hayes Morrison needs to dig herself out of what could be a publicly embarrassing situation. She makes a clandestine deal with her adversary, Conner Wallace, to take on the Conviction Integrity Unit and justice system in order to save face for herself and her family. The first case Hayes pushes her team to consider is that of Odell Dwyer, a handsome former high school football player who has been in prison for eight years for murdering his girlfriend.

Wallace's career-making case is reexamined by CIU team, but there are unforeseen complexities in this rape and robbery case, and the woman at the center of the crime becomes victimized again, this time by the press.

Hayes launches into damage-control mode following her controversial nationally televised interview, seeking to limit the repercussions within her family and to her mother's Senate campaign. Meanwhile, the CIU takes on the case of a young man from the wrong side of the tracks, convicted for killing a wealthy woman whose privileged family took him in and treated him as one of their own.

The accidental death of a young African American boy, shot by a cop, sparks a racial firestorm and inspires Hayes to re-examine the controversial case of Porscha Williams. Williams, a devoted African-American civil-rights activist and leader, is serving time for killing a white female cop at a race equality rally five years ago.