In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

A radical student is adopted by a group of young New Yorkers, serves as a catalyst to alter his and their lives. Gathering in a Manhattan apartment, the group of friends meet to discuss social mobility, Fourier's socialism and play bridge in their cocoon of upper-class society - until they are joined by a man with a critical view of their way of life.

Martin Donovan plays John Abbott, a church investigator looking into a murder. The world is similar to England in the mid to late 1800s but with odd touches such as primitive computers etc. The sets are similar to Brazil, as is the look of a lot of the movie although much more reserved and somewhat more sinister. The movie revolves around a man, Abbott, who starts supremely self confident but eventually has to deal with his own failings and flaws.