An ex-newspaper woman, who is now a suburban housewife, can't resist getting involved in an investigation of the murder of a philandering dentist who had been having affairs with several of her neighbors.

The real-life account of an illiterate, deaf-and-mute, black youth who was accused of murdering a prostitute, and the relationship that developed between him and his court-appointed attorney, who also was deaf, and the events leading up to his precedent-setting trial.