When life spins out of control, standing up for yourself isn't easy. Marilee Carson Cooper, daughter of a good Southern family, had expectations. But now they are dashed. After her husband leaves her for a young man when she is pregnant with their second child, she pins her career hopes on being appointed Chair of Clinical Law.
The Chair goes to Dwight Hurley, a hometown boy who once broke her heart. The Dean makes clear that Dwight was awarded the endowment because he's written a soon to be published textbook. Even worse, Marilee is in danger of losing the career she loves if she doesn't produce a law review article before the end of the semester, when she's on maternity leave. She has started drafts of a dozen papers for law journals but her difficulties finishing them provide wonderful comic moments.
As Marilee tries to come to grips with her long-buried feelings for Dwight and her suspicion that he hasn't written a book at all, the troubled clients of the legal clinic are presenting Marilee and her student lawyers with grave issues. One of them-an unwed teen mom-is accused of child abuse, while another client's DNA tests cast doubt on the parentage of her child.
