The murder of Forrest Teel, a corporate vice-president and head of the international division of the largest pharmaceutical company in the world caught the attention of the nation in 1958. When his longtime mistress was arrested for the crime, the interest of the world was piqued. At the same time, a young lawyer was finishing a campaign to be elected judge in a criminal court in Indianapolis. Against all predictions, he won the seat. Only after he won did he realize he would be the judge for the largest trial in Indianapolis history. The book details the murder, investigation and arrest, then follows the struggles of the defendant, literally fighting for her life, and the politically ambitious judge, struggling to conduct and control a trial with no previous experience, all the while under the media's powerful microscope.