It was snowing in Colorado's Left Hand Canyon the night wealthy college co-ed Amy Lynch stumbled out of the woods -- naked, handcuffed, with a dog collar around her neck. A week later, she was dead without having named her attacker. The handcuffs are traced to ambitious federal judge Glenn Ballard, who is quickly charged with murder in the first degree under circumstances of extreme indifference. He turns not to one of the country's most esteemed lawyers for this high-profile case, but to his former law student Jackie Flowers.

A criminal attorney for the public defender's office, Jackie got through law school on her wits despite her dyslexia and the harsh criticism of Ballard. Now she will have to draw upon all of her best resources, including her stellar investigator Pilar Perez, to defend a client with an impeccable record against overwhelming evidence of his guilt. The same man who once told her: "Frankly, I'll be amazed if you pass the bar."