Suffering from an illness eventually revealed to be pneumonia, attorney Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren) arrives at the law office of Bruce Cutler (Jeffrey Tambor) in Los Angeles. Cutler's law firm is providing the legal defense for music producer Phil Spector (Al Pacino), who is accused of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in his home on February 3, 2003, by firing a handgun into her mouth. Spector's defense is that Clarkson committed suicide, and he recently has switched attorneys and retained Cutler's firm.