A routine drug raid goes awry in Boston's Chinatown, killing a police officer as he batters down the door to execute a no-knock search warrant. The cops arrest and charge a man with the crime, but his lawyer, Sarah Kerlinsky, has her suspicions about the confidential snitch whose information, recounted in a police affidavit, was the basis for the warrant. Tough and tenacious, Sarah convinces the court to order the police to produce the snitch as a witness at the trial.

But Sarah's suspicions are justified. The snitch never existed. With policemen frantic to avoid perjury charges and the prosecutor hoping to forestall dismissal of the murder indictment, a scramble ensues to find someone whose testimony might shore up the prosecution. Danny Li, a small-time Chinese hustler who actually supplied the cops with the information needed to pull off the raid, realizes they'll be coming for him. He needs a lawyer--and fast. He turns to Matthew Boer, an inexperienced corporate attorney with an old Boston firm. Matt has had no exposure to criminal law, and to top it off, his client isn't telling him the full story--about either the affidavit or his own role in its creation.

Danny soon finds himself the target of the police and prosecutors, and Matt, woefully out of his depth in the rough current of the criminal justice system, must face a conspiracy that pits him against Boston's worst in his struggle to keep Danny safe. As events unfold catastrophically, Matt finds that politicians, the Chinese mob, and even the firm he calls home are all enmeshed in a high-stakes game of money, power, and drugs. Can he catch a killer and get his client home before the clock strikes twelve? Will an innocent man pay the price for a bust gone bad? And can Sarah mount a successful defense of her client in the face of police perjury and prosecutorial misconduct?