Adam Hall, an inexperienced young lawyer, fights to keep his bigoted grandfather from receiving the death penalty for a racially charged bombing committed during the Civil Rights Movement.
Attorney and writer Polly Nelson sued Grisham in 1995 alleging the work bears resemblance to her nonfiction book Defending the Devil, which chronicles Nelson's experiences representing serial killer Ted Bundy. After a lower court ruled in Grisham's favour, the case was dismissed on appeal in 1997.
Despite the controversy, the novel earned a 1996 big-screen adaptation with Chris O'Donnell cast as Adam and Gene Hackman as his grandfather.