Law student Yan Wengang, haunted by his zealotry during the Cultural Revolution, interns with comrades Wei Zekuan and Xia Chengyuan in the southern city of Wuzhou. When Yan defends defendant Zhao Dawei in a murder-robbery trial, he uncovers split opinions at court and, with Dean Wang and juror Li Mang’s help, secures evidence of Zhao’s innocence, only for Zhao to falsely confess. Disillusioned classmates make different career choices; Yan, undeterred, returns to Wuzhou to reopen Zhao’s case and finally fight for true justice.