Tony Smalls is a lawyer on the fast track, moving quickly away from his roots in Detroit's rough Joy Road neighborhood. He's forced to put his plans on hold when his sister Nia asks him to defend her fiance, a gang kingpin who is under arrest for a triple murder that he says he didn't commit. Tony feels the pressure of the case when the feds and a shadowy corporation get involved, along with a private investigator who seems to be working all sides. When Nia starts an investigation of her own into the murder, it not only brings her closer to the truth - it puts both herself and Tony in harm's way.