Federal Judge Adam Willow, a former Marine commando, demands perfect justice. Some defendants are acquitted by juries in his Chicago courtroom, but none survive. Set in Chicago in the late 1980's and early '90s, the commando Judge takes matters into his own hands. He starts when he is left alone with a defendant who has escaped justice, and in a moment of pure impulse, he kills the man. Emboldened by the experience, he goes on to murder more defendants. But when he kills a corrupt Supreme Court Justice, and an innocent man is put on trial for the murder, Judge Willow faces a crisis of conscience. He tries to save the defendant, but he fails. His law clerk, a beautiful Asian woman with whom he is having an affair, tries to soothe him. But in the end, the Judge must sit in trial on himself in the Court of Last Resort.