When the Governor s lovely assistant is found dead on the floor of Montana s Capitol, Missoula Senator Audrey Welter finds herself accused of murder. She turns to a Senate colleague, attorney Stretch Bruce from Roundup, to represent her. They struggle to fulfill their legislative obligations while preparing a defense to the charge and trying to figure out who is the real killer. Was it the Governor? The Attorney General? The vagrant found lurking in the basement of Capitol? Was it Audrey s former husband, who was enamored with the dead woman and had been stalking her? The twists and turns come one after another right up to the end of the trial, as Audrey s life hangs in the balance.