Jedediah Tucker Ward is an esteemed trial attorney who has built his reputation defending the underdog against the huge, impenetrable corporate power structure. His daughter Maggie, also a lawyer, has more conventional aims -- namely becoming a partner in San Francisco's largest corporate law firm.
Jedediah believes that his daughter is selling out by working as a corporate attorney, but Maggie sees her father's defense of the "common man" as an excuse for self-aggrandizement on the job and negligence at home. The festering antagonism between the two comes to a head when they meet in the courtroom for a class action suit against an American auto manufacturer, where Maggie represents the car company and Jedediah represents the people.