Egotistical New Orleans defense attorney, Lawson Russell, known more for his charisma than for his professional ethics, meets a writer while vacationing in Key West. The writer confides in him about his newest manuscript -- a thriller in which a serial killer kills five lawyers who have been able to aquit clients of crimes. When the author dies the next day, Lawson chooses to publish the book as his own and becomes an instant star. However, when the five murders turn out to be real rather than fiction, Lawson must do some fancy "lawyering" to prove his innocence and find the real killer.