The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) takes over the investigation. Kramer is airlifted to Memphis, Tennessee; his wife, Ruth, is hospitalized for shock. At the Greenville Police Station, Sam is nearly released on a minor traffic charge when Detective Ivy detains him for questioning and reveals that the twins are dead. Sam requests an attorney and says nothing more. The FBI confirms the bomb’s components and publicizes Sam’s Klan membership.

Dogan sends attorney Clovis Brazelton to represent Sam. Brazelton instructs Sam to protect Dogan and promises an acquittal from an all-white jury. On May 5, 1967, both Sam and Dogan are indicted for capital murder. The first trial ends in a hung jury, despite perjured testimony from a Klan member. The second trial six months later also ends with a hung jury. During the trial, Dogan claims that Wedge has threatened to bomb their families if his name is mentioned in court.

Kramer and his wife separate in 1970. The following year, Kramer is hospitalized and dies by suicide. The district attorney loses interest in a third trial. In 1979, David McAllister is elected district attorney and vows to prosecute the bombers. That same year, Dogan is indicted for tax evasion. The FBI offers him a deal: testify against Sam in exchange for no jail time. Dogan accepts after McAllister re-indicts both men.

After 12 years of quiet life in Ford County, Sam is arrested again. Mississippi has changed dramatically; Black Americans vote and serve on juries. The third trial begins in February 1981 with an integrated jury. Dogan testifies against Sam, detailing their conspiracy. On February 12, Sam is convicted of two counts of capital murder and one of attempted murder. Two days later, he is sentenced to death. On February 19, Sam arrives on death row at the penitentiary known as Parchman.

In 1990, at the Chicago, Illinois, offices of Kravitz & Bane, 26-year-old associate Adam Hall meets with his pro-bono partner, E. Garner Goodman. Adam requests assignment to Sam Cayhall’s death-penalty case. Goodman reveals that Sam just fired the firm after seven years of representation. When pressed about his interest, Adam discloses his secret: His father was Eddie Cayhall, making Sam his grandfather.

Adam explains that Eddie fled Mississippi after Sam’s arrest, changed the family name to Hall, and died by suicide in 1981 after Sam’s conviction. Adam learned the truth from his aunt Lee Cayhall Booth at age 17. He chose to work for Kravitz & Bane specifically because they represented Sam and requests a transfer to the Memphis office. Goodman agrees to help and warns Adam that the media will discover his identity.

A meeting is convened with Adam, Goodman, Emmitt Wycoff, and managing partner Daniel Rosen. Rosen aggressively confronts Adam for concealing his relationship to Sam and argues that he should be terminated for deception. Goodman and Wycoff defend Adam, insisting that Sam needs representation and that Adam is talented. Rosen reluctantly approves the assignment but vows to recommend Adam’s termination when the case ends.

Goodman tells Adam that he can leave for Memphis immediately. He also promises to contact the warden at Parchman to arrange an interview with Sam. He tells Adam that he believes Sam had an accomplice and gives him the name of a retired FBI agent, Wyn Lettner, who might know more.

In his Chicago apartment, Adam reviews a private video compilation that he assembled from clips related to Sam’s case, which he titled “The Adventures of a Klan Bomber.” The video opens with news footage of a Jackson synagogue bombing in March 1967 and then shifts to the aftermath of the Kramer explosion, showing Kramer being rescued and the twins’ covered bodies being removed. Adam repeatedly replays footage of Sam in custody, studying his grandfather’s face.

The video includes clips from the first two trials and a painful scene of Kramer confronting Klansmen after the second trial, screaming at Sam and falling from his wheelchair. Footage from the 1981 trial shows prosecutor David McAllister, who has since become Mississippi’s governor. Adam realizes that he may have to beg McAllister for a pardon. Adam’s apartment also contains boxes of transcripts, briefs, clippings, and death-penalty research.

Nine years earlier, Adam attended his father Eddie’s funeral in Santa Monica, California. Adam was the one who discovered Eddie’s corpse. At the funeral, Adam and his sister, Carmen, met their aunt Lee for the first time. Lee spent two weeks with them and revealed their family history: Adam and Carmen had lived in Mississippi as toddlers, and their grandfather Sam was a Klansman on death row for the Kramer bombing. She gave few details about her own unhappy marriage to Phelps Booth, a man from a wealthy Memphis banking family.

In the present, Adam arrives at Lee’s Memphis condo. When he announces that he will be visiting Sam, Lee becomes distressed. Adam asks about a rumor that Sam killed a Black man in the 1950s. Lee confirms it and admits that she witnessed it.

Lee explains her dysfunctional marriage: She and Phelps live separately but maintain appearances for his family, who know about her father but keep the secret. Lee points out a building where Ruth Kramer now lives. Though Lee is opposed to the death penalty, she argues that victims deserve retribution. Adam insists that he’s going forward with Sam’s case regardless.

Adam arrives at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. He meets Lucas Mann, the prison attorney, who explains his role and his personal opposition to the death penalty. Mann reveals that he has discovered Adam’s identity through a background check and confronts him, prompting Adam to confess that Sam is his grandfather. Mann then delivers shocking news: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted Sam’s stay, and the Mississippi Supreme Court has set an execution date for August 8, just four weeks away. Stunned, Adam takes the court order. Mann offers his assistance throughout the coming process and suggests that Adam request that the guards remove Sam’s handcuffs during their meeting.

Adam drives to the Maximum Security Unit, which is surrounded by high fences, razor wire, and guard towers. He passes through security and is led to a lawyer’s conference room.

Sam is brought in wearing a red jumpsuit, hands cuffed. Adam requests that the cuffs be removed. Sam makes cynical, racist remarks about Kravitz & Bane and questions Adam’s credentials, quizzing him on death-penalty case law and mocking his inexperience. He claims that he’s a political prisoner being used to leverage Governor McAllister’s career ambitions. When Sam asks about Adam’s family, Adam answers that his father is dead. Sam asks if his sister’s name is Carmen. Stunned, Adam asks how he knew he was Eddie’s son. Sam says that Adam’s voice sounds like his father’s and then responds to his grandson’s presence with shock.

Warden Phillip Naifeh reviews the court order setting Sam’s execution in four weeks. Naifeh, a 63-year-old who has served as superintendent for 27 years, personally hates the death penalty. He has supervised 22 executions and was hospitalized after the last one. He tells Lucas Mann that he will delegate Sam’s execution to his assistant, Colonel George Nugent, a fanatical disciplinarian. Mann objects, calling Nugent “crazy,” but Naifeh insists.

In the conference room, Adam and Sam sit in silence for 15 minutes. Sam confirms that Adam’s birth name was Alan and that he is his first grandson. He advises Adam to leave, arguing that the case is hopeless. Adam refuses, stating that he’s tired of family secrets. He presents a legal representation agreement. Sam demands that Adam never contact Governor McAllister and insists on a clause allowing him to fire Adam at his discretion. Sam does not sign the agreement, saying that he needs time to think, and asks Adam to return the following day.