Wealthy philanthropist Malcolm Engle reveals his plan to murder someone close to Ben Matlock at a certain time and place and challenges Matlock to try and prove he did it. When Lt. Bob Brooks becomes the victim, Matlock struggles to break Engle's alibi and link him to the murder.
After Matlock's car breaks down in the bad part of Atlanta, he befriends a tenant of run down apartment complex in the same area. His new friend is accused of assaulting the slum lord owner of the building and Ben serves as his lawyer.
Two weeks before con man Adam Spangler's appointment with the electric chair, Det. Campbell Buchard convinces Ben and Leanne to shake the eyewitness testimony that put Spangler on death row and find the real killer.
As a juror in the trial of a man accused of killing his wife, Ben angers the other jurors by being the only holdout. He believes the accused man is innocent, and he even holds a demonstration to prove his point.
Ben takes Leanne to meet the wife of his first client back in the early 60s. Mr. Shaw was the cook at the local diner where he was accused of killing the local sheriff after a disagreement in the diner.