It tells the true story of the young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his historic battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan receives very lucrative job offers. But he prefers to head to Alabama to defend people who have been wrongly convicted or lacked resources to have adequate legal representation, and he does so with the support of local activist Eva Ansley (Larson). One of his first and most turbulent cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx), who in 1987 was sentenced to death for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite the evidence ostensibly proving his innocence. In later years, Bryan is involved in a maze of legal and political maneuvering and open and brazen racism while fighting for Walter and others like him, despite having everything against him, including the legal system.