After a Supreme Court judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered, all fingers point to Carl Anderson (Liam Neeson), a homeless veteran who is deaf and mute. But when public defender Kathleen Riley (Cher) is assigned to his case, she begins to believe that Anderson may even be innocent. Juror Eddie Sanger (Dennis Quaid), a Washington lobbyist, agrees, and also the pair begins their own evaluation of events.