Boston attorney Brady Coyne doesn't handle criminal cases--he makes a nice living drafting wills and deeds and doing other small legal work for a select list of clients. He does, however, handle divorces and, against his better judgment, he decides to represent Mick Fallon, a former professional basketball player, in a divorce suit brought against him by his wife. Mick doesn't want the divorce, nor does he understand why his wife wants one, and he isn't going to make it easy for anyone involved--including Brady.

But that, as Brady soon discovers, is only the beginning of Mick's problems. A compulsive gambler, Mick is deep in debt to a local mobster, and he has a talent for making difficult situations worse. In fact, nothing is ever quite the way that Mick represents it to be, and the early stages of the divorce action aren't going well for Brady's client. Before it can get very far, however, Mick's wife is found brutally murdered in her living room. The obvious suspect is Mick himself--he was seen at her house that night and later lied about it--but Mick has disappeared. Though everyone from the police to the mob is after Mick, only Brady believes him to be innocent of the crime--a crime he has to solve before Mick's troubles overtake him permanently.