Dr. Linda Burke, a psychologist, is murdered. She was an advisor to the local Catholic diocese on whether to grant marriage annulments. One parishioner, Molly Kilpatrick, did not want an annulment because then her son would be considered illegitimate in the eyes of the church. Someone had accessed Burke's hard drive and tried to delete her draft report to the diocese; Molly has the technical skills to do it. Molly is addicted to prescription drugs and can't account for where she was at the time of the murder. She is charged.
Molly's divorce lawyer Sheila Atkins is engaged in a vicious legal battle with Paul Redfield, who represents Molly's ex-husband. Atkins is determined to prove Redfield has been hiding assets. She goes to the Ethics Committee with a question about attorney-client privilege, but refuses to say what it was related to. McCoy petitions the judge to intervene, and Atkins reveals that Molly threatened to kill Burke. Molly denies it but is forced to admit that she could have committed the murder under the influence of drugs. Her defence lawyer agrees to a plea and psychiatric evaluation for her. Meanwhile, Atkins and Redfield continue fighting.
Ross and McCoy learn that Atkins went to a judge for an order to prevent the annulment - but withdrew the petition just two days after Burke was murdered. That suggests Atkins had read Burke's report (which supported the annulment) and knew the court order was no longer needed. She killed Burke and framed Molly, aware that Molly would get a reduced sentence on the grounds of her mental instability. Atkins would then win the divorce case. McCoy uses Redfield to lure her into admitting the truth, and she pleads guilty to murder. Redfield, who really was hiding Mr. Kilpatrick's assets, has to hand them over to Molly and his legal licence is suspended.
- Artistic License – Law: No religious association is allowed the legal power to grant annulments, especially the archdiocese. Instead, their involvement hinges around custody arrangements of the children (specifically, whether or not the children are seen as legitimate in the eyes of the religious community, and after the determination is made, what the custody arrangements should be under the annulment). There would still need to be a legal process for the annulment (especially on the custody arrangements) and the archdiocese has no influence on questions regarding material assets in that process. In other words, not only would Atkins asking Burke to delay the draft of her annulment report be unnecessary, but she also wouldn't have had to petition a court to stop the annulment. As such, she only would have to ask the judge in divorce court to suspend annulment proceedings if she had concerns that Gary Kilpatrick was hiding assets.
- Amoral Attorney: Sheila Atkins murdered Dr. Burke and framed Molly Kilpatrick so she could win a case and squeeze more money out of her client's ex. Paul Redfield isn't that much better considering that he was exposed for hiding Mr. Kilpatrick's assets and is forced to accept suspension of his legal license.
- Crazy Homeless People: One potential suspect is a homeless man who believes he's the Pope.
- Divorce Assets Conflict: The attorneys are fighting over every penny.
- Fiery Redhead: Molly Kilpatrick has red hair and is temperamental.
- Frame-Up: The plot hinges on Atkins' attempts to frame Molly Kilpatrick for murder.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Discussed by both Ross and McCoy in which after Atkins is convicted, Redfield might want to go to the prison to gloat at Atkins despite he himself having his own law license suspended. This may also apply to Atkins considering while Molly Kilpatrick may end up with some of Gary's assets, she had to go to prison for murder in order to accomplish that.
- Rejected Apology: From Linda Burke's widowed husband after Sheila Atkins allocutes to her actions: "You killed my wife to win a divorce case, and you're SORRY?"
- Spotting the Thread: McCoy realizes that Atkins killed Burke after Atkins withdrew her petition to stall the annulment to the judge.
