Jake Brigance woke at 5.30 a.m. as usual, rolled out of bed, and went downstairs to make coffee for his wife, Carla.

It is just another day in the life of a small town Southern lawyer, an ambitious man with a loving wife and a new car that he has not yet paid for. 
But, like everyone else in Clanton, Mississippi, Jake soon hears awful news — two local men have attacked and raped ten-year-old Tonya Hailey. 