Sam Gerard is a well-known mobster who is about to be exposed. His estranged son, Craig Gentry, is arrested for murder, but refuses to go to Sam for help, and instead, goes to Ben Matlock.

Craig continues to turn away from his father as Matlock keeps trying to investigate the case. When the Gentry family is almost caught in the middle of a mob war with the Hernandez family, Matlock realises that someone on the inside is pulling the strings.

Anthony Stewart is charged with murdering Michael Russell, the husband of the woman he was sleeping with. Although Stewart, a visiting British ambassador, has diplomatic immunity, he refuses to use it, and wants to clean his name. Matlcok agrees to defend the young ambassador, but his case is almost over when Stewart is nearly killed in a hit and run.

After Anthony Stewart is nearly killed in a hit and run, Matlock realises that the only way to clear him is to find Shelby Russell, the supposed witness whose claim put Stewart in the hot seat in the first place. He tracks her down via her mother, and tells her that if she doesn't take the stand, her lover will go down for Michael Russell's murder.