A First Amendment scholar is recruited by an attorney to sue a publishing company after a hit man commits a triple murder by allegedly following a how-to manual the book company published. They set out to put the company on trial for providing blueprints for would-be murderers. Arguing that the publisher is not protected by the First Amendment, the crusading lawyers seek monetary damages for the victims' families.

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Detective looks through a phone record, points to a record which state abbreviation is MA and declares a payphone call was from Maryland. MA is the abbreviation for Massachusetts; MD is for Maryland.