Tuesday morning begins with Mattie’s daily ritual: a private coffee meeting with Donovan. When they see Samantha, Donovan invites her to lunch at his office.

Later, while covering the front desk, Samantha meets Francine Crump, an 80-year-old woman seeking a make a new will. She wants to disinherit her five children and leave her 80 acres in Jacob’s Holler to her neighbors, who have promised to protect it from the coal company that wants to buy it. Realizing the will is complex and likely to be contested, Samantha asks her to return in a few days.

At noon, Samantha visits Donovan’s well-appointed office. In his “war room,” she sees a large photograph of a mobile home crushed by a boulder. Donovan explains it’s from his lawsuit against Strayhorn Coal. On March 14 of the previous year, during unauthorized rock-clearing at the Enid Mountain strip mine, a bulldozer pushed a massive boulder down the mountain. It traveled almost a mile and crashed into a trailer, killing two sleeping brothers, Eddie and Brandon Tate. The trial starts Monday, and the company has offered to settle for only $100,000. He will seek punitive damages, but Virginia caps them at $350,000 dollars.

Donovan shows her another photograph, this one from a case he lost in West Virginia where a coal truck killed a 16-year-old girl. The truck driver and his partner lied in court. A month after trial, the same driver hit another car and, under questioning, admitted being threatened into lying. The driver is now a whistle-blower whom Donovan pays cash to keep in hiding.

When Samantha questions the legality, Donovan says that in coal country, fighting fairly means losing. He offers Samantha a part-time, paid research position. She is hesitant but agrees to consider it.

On Wednesday, Mattie and Samantha drive to a nearby town, Colton, for a hearing regarding Stocky Purvis. En route, Mattie detours to show Samantha three active mountaintop removal sites. The once-beautiful mountains are now scalped, their tops gone, surrounded by unspoiled, colorful ridges. Samantha is horrified. Mattie explains that litigation to stop the practice has been largely unsuccessful. She mentions she advised Donovan to settle the upcoming Tate case, but he wants to make a statement.

At the Hopper County Courthouse, Mattie aggressively confronts Laney Snowden, representative for collection agency that came after Stocky. She produces a prepared federal lawsuit threatening years of litigation for unconstitutional debt imprisonment. A shell-shocked Snowden accepts the papers. Thirty minutes later, a deal is reached and Stocky is released. On the drive back, Mattie reveals that the lawsuit was a prewritten dummy they keep on file to scare bullies.

That afternoon, Samantha, Annette, and Phoebe Fanning attend a restraining order hearing. Judge Battle grants the order, forbidding Randy from contacting his family or approaching the house. When Annette reports Monday’s intimidation by Randy’s brother Tony, the judge warns Randy to control his brother. Outside, Tony and a friend approach menacingly, but Donovan appears unexpectedly, and his presence causes them to back down.

That evening, Samantha reads a news article about “ecoterrorists” disabling strip-mining equipment in West Virginia by shooting out expensive tires on mining trucks with military-grade rifles. Twenty-eight tires were destroyed at the Bull Forge Mine. She finds herself rooting for the saboteurs. She then browses the New York Times online and sees a photo of a trendy Tribeca restaurant, which makes her briefly homesick.

On Friday afternoon, Donovan takes Samantha on a hike up Dublin Mountain, which Strayhorn Coal will soon strip-mine. They are trespassing, and he carries a rifle, claiming it is for protection from bears. From a clearing, he points out the Bull Forge Mine in the distance, site of the recent attack on mining equipment. When Samantha mentions it, Donovan instinctively touches his rifle.

They continue to the summit. Donovan explains that in about six months, Strayhorn will destroy Dublin Mountain, including an old family cemetery. When Samantha mentions Mattie’s advice to settle the Tate lawsuit, Donovan dismisses it. When he asks about her father’s imprisonment, Samantha makes a deal: She won’t ask about his wife if he doesn’t ask about her father.

From a hiding place between boulders, they observe the massive strip-mining operation on adjacent Enid Mountain. Donovan explains that this is where the boulder that killed the Tate boys originated.

Vic Canzarro, Donovan’s expert witness and a former mine safety inspector, suddenly appears and startles them. He sets up a video camera to film the scheduled four o’clock blast, hoping to catch violations. They watch as explosions rumble through the mountain. Vic notices they have been spotted by Strayhorn employees, and they quickly pack up and descend. A Strayhorn pickup tries to block their Jeep, but Donovan swerves around it and speeds away. He tells Samantha that Strayhorn will complain to the judge, but he will deny being there. He invites Samantha on another adventure Saturday, promising no guns or trespassing.

Saturday morning, Samantha speaks with her friend Blythe and feels homesick. She then meets Donovan at the Noland County Airfield. He reveals that he is a pilot, and they will fly in his Cessna 172. He gives Samantha an aerial tour, pointing out numerous strip mines scarring the landscape across Kentucky and West Virginia. He shows her a reclaimed mine site that was once Persimmon Mountain, calling reclamation a joke. They fly over the Bull Forge Mine. Samantha jokes about shooting out tires from the air, and Donovan replies that he has thought about it.

He then flies over Hammer Valley, West Virginia, an area with a cancer rate 20 times the national average. He shows her the former Peck Mountain strip-mine site and its massive black slurry pond, now controlled by Krull Mining, a company owned by a Russian oligarch. He calls the contamination situation the biggest lawsuit ever.

When they land, Vic Canzarro meets them. He drives them to the home of Jesse McKeever, a potential client. Vic explains that Jesse’s well water is dangerously contaminated.

At Jesse’s home, Donovan records his story: He has lost his wife, one son, one daughter, one brother, and two cousins to cancer. Donovan asks Jesse to join the lawsuit against Krull Mining. Jesse wants time to think. In the truck, Samantha asks how Donovan can prove Krull knew the slurry pond was leaking. Donovan and Vic become evasive.

At lunch in a Rockville diner, Samantha presses them about Krull, and Donovan states that they have access to documents that went missing from Krull Mining. The company knows they are missing but does not know who has them. He has about 30 families signed up for the lawsuit and has spent $100,000 without filing suit yet. Vic watches Samantha intently, assessing her trustworthiness.

On the flight back, Donovan lets Samantha fly the airplane. She finds it thrilling and surprisingly easy. Donovan appears to fall asleep, leaving her in control for about 15 minutes. When he wakes, he compliments her flying.

At Samantha’s request, they fly over Gray Mountain, his family’s former land. He describes it as “the ugliest spot in all of Appalachia” (176). Donovan points out a white cross marking where his mother died and reveals that he was the one who found her body. He shows her his secret cabin on Yellow Creek, a part of the property that was not ruined, and invites her to see it sometime. At the airfield, Donovan drops Samantha off, saying he is flying to Roanoke to see his wife and daughter.

That evening, Samantha attends a chili dinner at Mattie and Chester Wyatt’s home with Annette, their paralegal Claudelle, Kim, and Adam. Throughout the evening, Samantha notices Annette acting cool and distant toward her. She suspects that Annette’s attitude is related to her spending time with Donovan.

On Sunday morning, Samantha talks to her mother on the phone. She walks around Brady, passing numerous full churches, then takes a road trip through the coal country of eastern Kentucky and into West Virginia. She finds it impossible to escape the topic of coal—strip mines, coal trucks, and competing bumper stickers everywhere. She reaches Charleston, feels overwhelmed, and turns back.

That night, seeing lights on in Donovan’s office, she calls him, and he invites her over. Donovan introduces her to Lenny Charlton, a jury consultant, as they finalize preparations for Monday’s trial. After Lenny leaves, Samantha directly asks Donovan if he possesses stolen documents from Krull Mining. He evades the question, and Samantha formally declines his job offer.

The narrative shifts to an informational section from Samantha’s seminar materials about black lung disease. It explains that the disease is caused by prolonged exposure to coal dust and is preventable, debilitating, and usually fatal. Despite 1969 federal legislation establishing a compensation system, the disease has returned as an epidemic because miners work longer shifts and companies expose them to illegal dust concentrations. The coal companies resist claims with experienced attorneys, delaying benefits for years.

In the materials, Samantha finds a personal addendum by Mattie Wyatt about her father, Thomas Wilcox. Mattie recounts her decorated war-hero father’s 12-year battle for black lung benefits, which the coal company fought until after his slow, agonizing death from the disease in 1986 at age 61. Four months later, the company dropped its appeal. After reading Mattie’s story, Samantha goes for a late-night walk.

On Monday morning, a crying Pamela Booker arrives at the clinic with her two young children, Trevor and Mandy, seeking help. Samantha feeds them while Pamela explains they are living in their car after she was fired from her job when a collection agency garnished her wages for an old credit card judgment. Samantha sends Barb out to buy food and realizes that she is the family’s last hope.

Samantha calls Pamela’s former boss and bluffs that firing an employee over a garnishment is illegal. This worries him. Annette advises Samantha that the judgment likely expired years ago. She approves handling the family’s immediate needs using the clinic’s emergency fund.

Phoebe and Randy Fanning arrive unexpectedly and announce they have reconciled and are dropping the divorce. A furious Annette questions the decision, reminding Phoebe of the abuse and that Randy is violating the restraining order. After they leave, Annette expresses fear Randy might eventually kill Phoebe. Francine Crump arrives for her will signing but is distraught. Her neighbors have decided to sell their land to a coal company. She no longer knows to whom to leave her land.

Samantha drafts her first lawsuit on behalf of Pamela Booker, and Mattie reviews and approves it. She checks the Booker family into two rooms at the Starlight Motel, paid for by the clinic’s emergency fund. Samantha drives to Colton, files the lawsuit at the clerk’s office, then goes to the courtroom where Donovan’s trial against Strayhorn Coal is concluding jury selection.

She sees Donovan and his client, Lisa Tate, facing several defense lawyers. She contrasts his potential million-dollar case with her own small lawsuit seeking $5,000. After the judge adjourns, she drives to pick up homework for the Booker children. She reflects that she feels more like a social worker than a lawyer. On the drive back to Brady, a white pickup truck follows her the entire way.