Jack MacTaggart never thought he’d find himself employed at Henley & Hargrove, Pasadena’s oldest and snobbiest law firm. Growing up in a Section 8 housing project in East L.A., he hardly thought he’d move from night class at Loyola Law to the litigation department at H&H, championed by the legendary Russell Dinsmoor. When the most valuable show horse of his firm's most valuable client is found dead on the eve of a major competition, Jack is dispatched to investigate. Conscripted to prove the socialite Sydney Everett innocent, Jack uncovers an old blackmail scheme whose tendrils reach all the way back to the firm. But when he reports his findings to Dinsmoor, the latter turns up dead, and Jack finds himself both the prime suspect and the killer's next likely victim.