We've all wanted to take the law into our own hands at some point; most of us are constrained by consequence - if not morality. After the rape and brutal treatment of a nine year-old black girl, (Tanya) at the hands of two despicable rednecks, Carl Lee (Samuel L. Jackson), the girl's vengeful father, takes the law into his own hands. This is a simple story of revenge - except that this is the South, …showed first 75 words of 317 total…

…showed last 75 words of 317 total…not alone. Jake's ragtag support crew includes a rascally divorce lawyer (Oliver Platt), Jake's drunken mentor (Donald Sutherland), and a smart and eager law student, Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock). The case becomes a firestorm, and everybody wants a piece of it -- from self-serving NAACP activists to cross-burning Klansmen. The KKK soon becomes the movie's chief “baddies.” The Klan starts planting bombs, threatening Jake's family, beating up Jake's secretary (Brenda Fricker) and even kidnapping Roark.