Dolores Claiborne was accused of murdering her abusive husband twenty decades ago, but the findings of the court were faked and she was allowed to walk free. Now she was accused of murdering her employer, Vera Donovan, also this time there is just a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. When her daughter Selena a powerful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to pay for the story, things seem bad for Dolores.