When Carl Lee Hailey guns down the hoodlums who have raped his ten-year-old child, the people of Clanton see it as a crime of blood and call for his acquittal. But in the maelstrom of Clanton, it is also the kind of case that could get a young lawyer killed.

When Carl Lee Hailey guns down the hoodlums who have raped his ten-year-old child, the people of Clanton see it as a crime of blood and call for his acquittal. But in the maelstrom of Clanton, it is also the kind of case that could get a young lawyer killed.