A man stumbles into Chicago's Blessed Trinity Hospital with a mild stroke, but errors badly damage Sam Roosevelt's brain. His distraught wife, Bertha, is given a lawyer's card: Maximillian Greene. In London, Chester Melrose, an aging partner in a Chicago law firm, Wilson & Thompson, meets Gordon Hawke; head of Imperial Insurance, and obtains new lucrative medical malpractice defense work. Five partners at Melrose's firm, Cal; Pete; Rasheed; Tony; and "Curly" are all new members of the management committee. Their friendship, however, devolves into a bitter fight for control. Melrose delegates his new business to Tony and Cal. Bertha calls Greene, a shyster who gives her modest funds in exchange for everything in her suit against the hospital. It's insured by Imperial, and will be defended by Wilson & Thompson, with Tony as counsel. Cal, in London tells Hawke he's handling Imperial's work. Hawke asks him to also handle their Caribbean bank work. He's introduced to Roxanne, a beauty who takes him to an erotic world of sex and drugs that Cal never experienced. Rasheed is torn between his gay lover and fear of coming out lest he alienate the homophobic president of his biggest client. Tony is shocked that Imperial's contract has his firm liable for any payout, with Essen Reinsurance responsible for anything over a million. Greene demands three million to settle, which the hospital says should be paid. The firm's management committee, outraged, ousts Melrose. The five friends are now in control with Cal as Chair, and Pete, Finance Chair. Cal and Pete conspire to run the firm for their benefit, siphoning off all they can. The firm's business sours, and it loses its insurance. Imperial falls behind. Cal forces Curly and Rasheed out, stealing their business. Ignoring the downward spiral, Cal repeatedly flies to London for erotic trysts with Roxanne. Hawke says Essen won't settle the Roosevelt case. Greene brings in Mike Granaldi, a top trial lawy
