Mary presides over her Monday docket, which includes many requests for protection orders following a violent weekend. Ada King appears seeking an order against her fiancé, LeRoy Stuart. King’s face is swollen and split from a beating, and she explains that she didn’t seek medical care because her former doctor, Bria Gaines, has mostly closed her office. Mary descends from the bench to examine King’s injuries, urges her to go to the hospital and file a police report, and reassures her that the abuse is not her fault.

As Mary begins entering the protection order, Stuart storms into the courtroom, demanding to know why he can’t contact his partner. Mary pounds her gavel and threatens him with jail time if he violates the order, which prohibits him from coming within 300 feet of King or her children. The heated exchange continues until Stuart gives a sullen acknowledgment.

After the parties leave, Mary realizes that she had an unwanted audience: DA Reeves, a blonde woman, and Nova were all watching from the back of the courtroom.

Mary feels ashamed for losing her temper in front of 13-year-old Nova but reflects that she did the right thing with Stuart. Reeves introduces his co-counsel, Eleanor Lindquist, who explains that she’s giving Nova a courthouse orientation to help her feel comfortable testifying.

Mary finds Lindquist’s overly friendly behavior toward Nova suspicious and potentially coercive. Mary reveals that she already knows Nova from Saturday breakfast gatherings at her farm. Nova confirms that the judge looks like a normal person without her robe.

As Mary is about to leave, Lindquist mentions that Attorney General (AG) Dick Winston is in town and will want to speak with her—a prospect that irritates Mary immensely.

AG Winston arrives at Mary’s chambers unannounced just before lunch. She invites him in but remains guarded. Winston claims that he’s extending an olive branch regarding the governor’s earlier vulgar comment and asks Mary about her personal position on abortion. She refuses to answer, citing judicial ethics that prohibit her from commenting on legal issues that may come before her court. Mary accuses Winston of trying to coerce a statement that he can use to remove her from the case. Dropping his friendly pretense, Winston threatens to fund an effort to end Mary’s judicial career, warning that she’ll lose everything—including her family farm. Enraged, Mary moves toward him, ready for a physical confrontation. Winston hastily retreats, claiming that he was joking, and flees.

In Defense Attorney Meyers’s rented office, Bria finishes reviewing police reports. She tells Meyers that Nova’s story about getting pregnant at a party where she was too intoxicated to remember her attacker doesn’t ring true. During the aspiration abortion, performed without sedation, Nova repeatedly insisted that it wasn’t her fault, expressed hatred toward her attacker, and said she should have fought back like the Dora Milaje warriors from Black Panther—suggesting she knew exactly who assaulted her.

Bria shares that her motivation for becoming a doctor stemmed from her sister Bailey getting pregnant at 15 and being ostracized by their church community. Meyers states that even knowing the attacker’s identity wouldn’t create a defense under Alabama law. Nevertheless, Bria suggests that they speak with Cocheta Bass, the school nurse who first brought Nova to her. Meyers delivers shocking news: Cocheta has accepted a deal with the prosecution. In exchange for her testimony, her mandated reporter charge will be deferred. Bria is devastated by her friend’s betrayal.

Meyers takes Bria to a barbecue restaurant. Still reeling from Cocheta’s betrayal, Bria has no appetite and tells Meyers that she wants to plead guilty. Meyers delivers more devastating news: DA Reeves has already refused any plea deal. He promises to fight for Bria at trial and outlines his plan to interview the State’s witnesses, including Nova and Starla.

As they leave, Vic Fowler, a former patient, confronts Bria and follows them into the parking lot, shouting that she should face the death penalty. When Meyers shoves him away, Fowler punches Meyers unconscious. While walking off, Fowler calls the assault an “omen.”

Mary has not yet set a trial date for Bria’s case, wanting to give the out-of-state defense attorney time to prepare. Luna shows Mary a Twitter video of protesters fighting over an anti-abortion poster in front of Bria’s office. Luna also reveals that Vic Fowler assaulted Benjamin Meyers and adds an alarming rumor: The governor is threatening to send in the National Guard. Stunned, Mary decides to set a trial date immediately.

Unable to reach DA Reeves by phone, Mary walks to the diner where he’s having lunch. Outside the courthouse, she encounters a custodian, Aurora Freeman, observing a large crowd gathering on Prairie Street. Mary warns her to go inside for her own safety before proceeding into the crowd herself.

Mary enters a dense mass of anti-abortion protesters carrying Bibles and signs, including visitors from churches across the South. Mary becomes trapped in the jostling crowd, loses a shoe, and falls to the pavement. A man pulls her to safety before she pushes through to the diner entrance. Watching the mob through the glass, she feels estranged from her hometown, thinking Union Springs has gone “crazy.”

Cocheta works two jobs to pay for her son Holden’s college education since her ex-husband contributes nothing. After finishing her shift at a nursing home, a coworker asks intrusive questions about Nova, triggering a guilty headache. Cocheta recalls being threatened with jail and wondering who would care for Holden if she were locked up.

After leaving work, she stops at a convenience store for gas. A truck with blindingly bright headlights has been tailgating her but speeds past when she pulls in. After returning to her car, she pulls back onto the highway—and the same truck, idling on the shoulder ahead, switches on its brights and pulls up directly behind her.

Meyers arrives at the Jones family apartment to take witness statements. Nova answers the door, clearly hostile. Starla emerges and acts flirtatiously toward Meyers. When her son Tre climbs on the stove, Starla orders Nova to put him in his room; Nova discreetly slips him a snack cake as she carries him away.

Meyers records his interview with Starla, who is 28 and has five children. She expresses anger that the abortion was performed without her consent, calling it “murder,” and praises Reverend Erskine and Victory Baptist Church for their support after her youngest was born. When Meyers asks if Nova was physically prepared to carry a pregnancy, Starla insists that she was, noting that she herself was only 15 when she had Nova. She describes her daughter as a “sturdy,” strong girl. Meyers sees Nova standing in the hallway, looking down in shame.

Nova is embarrassed by her mother’s flirtatious behavior. She reflects that since Meyers’s case began, the church pantry has provided plenty of food. After she finishes making sandwiches for her siblings, Meyers calls Nova to answer questions on the record.

Nova repeats the story she told the police: At a party, older kids gave her weed and wine, it was too dark to see who assaulted her, and she told her attacker to stop because he was hurting her. As Nova talks, the memory of pain, bleeding, and crying for her mother overwhelms her. Nova explains that she realized she was pregnant in March. She told no one until school nurse Cocheta Bass noticed her morning sickness and administered a pregnancy test. Cocheta then took her to Dr. Bria Gaines. Nova insists that she never told anyone else, knowing she can’t reveal the truth.

Mary meets with Arch Pearce, who lowers his settlement demand against her family farm from $190,000 to $20,000. Mary laughs and refuses to pay anything.

Mary’s sister Jordan arrives unexpectedly, revealing that Cocheta is dead. When Cocheta didn’t show up for work, the assistant principal went to check on her and found her hanging from a tree in her backyard.

Mary drives to the active crime scene at Cocheta’s house and pushes past a deputy and the sheriff to approach the tree. She sees Cocheta’s body still hanging and then notices that her hands are tied behind her back. Realizing that Cocheta was lynched to send a message, Mary vomits.

Sheriff Owens tells Mary that the estimated time of death was the previous night and that Cocheta’s ex-husband has an alibi. A police photographer discovers fresh red spray paint on the tree trunk: a large letter “K.”

A week after Cocheta’s murder, with no suspects, Mary presides over a hearing in Bria’s case. Meyers presents a motion to exclude the testimony of Starla and Nova, arguing that they’re being compensated through regular donations of food, clothing, and cash from Victory Baptist Church—a Brady violation that the prosecution failed to disclose.

Lindquist objects and denies knowledge of the church’s actions. DA Reeves and Lindquist bring Reverend Erskine into court. Erskine offers to have the church immediately cease all aid to the Jones family. The offer sickens Mary, knowing the family needs help. After Bria quietly confers with Meyers, he argues that the testimony should be excluded due to coercion. Feeling torn, Mary overrules the motion to exclude but rules that the defense may cross-examine the witnesses about the donations at trial. This compromise draws immediate objections from all the lawyers.

Mary meets her sisters at a restaurant after Cocheta’s funeral, which she couldn’t attend due to court obligations. A notorious troublemaker, Mason Phelps, enters with friends, all wearing shirts featuring Confederate flags and crosses. Phelps displays a “K” burned into his forearm and loudly announces an upcoming protest. Looking directly at Mary, he declares that things are going back to how they used to be. As the sisters leave, Jordan has a tense standoff with Phelps.

Meyers waits outside Bullock County High School to question students about Nova. He approaches a group of sophomore and junior boys and shows them her school picture. They react with crude, derogatory noises and make increasingly vile claims about Nova’s indiscriminate sexual behavior. Only one of the boys refutes these claims, noting that Nova is always babysitting her younger siblings. A blond junior raises his hand, and Meyers glimpses a symbol burned into his forearm that looks like a letter. As Meyers leaves, one boy shouts a crude joke about Nova. Meyers drives away with a sense of foreboding.

On Saturday, Mary feels compelled to attend Mason Phelps’s rally and goes alone. She finds Union Springs crowded and observes a large pro-life protest alongside a vocal pro-choice counterprotest of mostly non-local young people. She’s struck that she doesn’t recognize a single person in the crowd and that, in this predominantly Black town, very few Black people are present.

The opposing groups begin shouting and surging toward each other as the local police struggle to maintain control. Mary realizes that the rally is turning into a fight.

A fleet of pickup trucks displaying anti-abortion images and Confederate flags drives into the square, blaring “Dixie” and led by Phelps. Upon spotting Mary, Phelps gives her a hateful grin. The overt racism makes some pro-life protesters uncomfortable, and they leave, while pro-choice counter-protesters mock the convoy.

A large, unmarked, white box truck stops in the street and opens its rear doors. Someone shouts a warning that it’s the white nationalist group Patriot Front. Two dozen men in matching uniforms emerge with faces hidden by white gaiters, all carrying assault-style rifles. As the armed men begin marching and “Dixie” starts again, the crowd scatters in panic. Unable to reach her car, Mary fights her way to the courthouse entrance. As people push in behind her seeking shelter, gunshots and screams erupt from the street.

Two hours after the shooting, Mary gives her witness statement at the sheriff’s office. She learns that there were no fatalities but several hospitalizations. Sheriff Owens pulls her into his office, and Mary confronts him about his failure to call in the National Guard.

Owens blames outside agitators and claims that he has Phelps under control. He adds that Phelps attributed the shooting to a defective firearm that discharged accidentally. Mary calls this nonsense and presses him on the lack of arrests, connecting it to Cocheta’s still unsolved murder. Enraged, Owens sweeps everything off his desk and orders her out. He shouts that people blame her for delaying the abortion case to trial and that any deaths tied to it will be on her.

Luna places a stack of tabloids on Mary’s desk featuring her photo under the headline “GAY AGENDA IN ALABAMA ABORTION CASE” (250). The article describes her friend Loucilla as a “lesbian activist” and notes that Mary is single and a Democrat. Realizing that the facts are technically true and she can’t sue, Mary calls Loucilla. They try to joke about it, but Mary can tell that Loucilla is shaken and apologizes for dragging her into the mess. The incident, combined with a sudden opening on her trial docket, prompts Mary to set the case for trial. She yells for Luna to get both lawyers into court.

Mary takes her seat early to observe the parties. DA Reeves arrives looking smug and confident. When Meyers and Bria enter, Mary is shocked by Bria’s physical deterioration—she is gaunt, and her hands shake so badly that she drops her pen.

Mary announces an opening on her trial docket in two weeks. Reeves immediately declares that the State is ready. After a quiet conference with Bria, Meyers states the defense has no objection. Mary addresses Bria directly to be certain; Bria confirms that she’s ready and wants to take her case to a jury. Mary adjourns the court, hoping she hasn’t made an error of judgment.