The Summons

Ray Atlee, a law professor at the University of Virginia, receives a summons from his estranged father, Judge Reuben V. Atlee, who is dying of cancer in Clanton, Mississippi. The letter instructs Ray and his younger brother, Forrest, to appear at the family home, Maple Run, on Sunday, May 7, at 5 pm to discuss the Judge’s estate. Ray reflects on his difficult relationship with his father, the dilapidated state of the ancestral home, and the Judge’s mysterious finances. He also considers Forrest’s long history of rehab and relapse.

To clear his head before the trip, Ray goes flying in a rented Cessna, a therapeutic hobby he began after his wife, Vicki, left him for a wealthy corporate raider named Lew Rodowski. At the airport, he sees Vicki, Lew, and their twin sons disembarking from a private jet, which upsets him. He later speaks with his colleague, Carl Mirk, about the summons. Ray calls Forrest in Memphis, who confirms he also received the summons and reluctantly agrees to attend. Forrest reports that he has been sober for 139 days.

Ray takes a two-day scenic drive to Mississippi in his new Audi TT roadster. He arrives at Maple Run at the appointed time and finds the house unlocked. In the study, he discovers his father is dead on the sofa, a morphine pack attached to his belt. On the Judge’s desk, Ray finds a new, one-page will dated the previous day. It splits the estate equally between the two sons and names Ray as executor.

While waiting for Forrest to arrive, Ray discovers a cabinet behind the sofa containing twenty-seven stationer’s boxes filled with cash. Panicked, he quickly hides the boxes in a broom closet. When Forrest arrives, Ray informs him of their father’s death. He discloses the contents of the will but not the existence of the cash, claiming the estate is minimal.

The coroner and Reverend Silas Palmer arrive to make arrangements. Ray, citing the painful memory of his mother’s wake, agrees to a public viewing at the courthouse instead of the house. Forrest finds a hidden bottle of bourbon and breaks his sobriety. Harry Rex Vonner, a local lawyer and family friend, arrives and agrees to organize the wake. Ray discreetly asks about the Judge’s finances, and Harry Rex confirms the Judge was known for extensive charitable giving.

That night, alone in the house, Ray is disturbed by noises and believes someone is trying to break in, though a police search finds no evidence of an intruder. The next morning, Ray transfers the cash into three large garbage bags and places them in the trunk of his car. At breakfast with Forrest, Harry Rex reveals he drafted a different, more complex will for the Judge a month prior, raising Ray’s suspicions. During the public wake at the courthouse, Forrest abruptly leaves for Memphis.

Ray drives to the casinos in Tunica, Mississippi, to test the money’s legitimacy. In a motel room, he counts the cash, which totals $3,118,000. He successfully uses several hundred-dollar bills in the casinos, confirming they are not counterfeit and leading him to suspect the Judge won the money gambling.

The next day, Ray returns to Maple Run to find it has been broken into. The empty stationer’s boxes are scattered in the study, indicating the intruder was looking for the cash. Claudia Gates, the Judge’s former lover, visits. Ray questions her, and her surprise at the mention of hidden money convinces him she is not involved. After the funeral, Ray tells Harry Rex a partial truth, admitting he found a box with more than $90,000. Harry Rex confirms the Judge was a frequent and successful gambler.

Increasingly paranoid, Ray drives back to Charlottesville with the money. He makes multiple trips from a parking garage to his apartment to move the cash. Fearing he is being watched, he hides the money in a series of self-storage units. Soon after renting the first unit, he receives an anonymous, threatening note warning him not to spend the money unless he wants the IRS involved.

Ray flies to Atlantic City to further test the money and learns a suspicious man was asking about him at the airport. He hires a private investigator, Corey Crawford, and receives a fake letter from the IRS, another act of intimidation. Harry Rex calls to report that Forrest is in the hospital after a drunken brawl in which he ranted about being cheated out of the estate. Ray decides to buy a quarter-share of a Bonanza airplane he has been admiring.

While sorting through the Judge’s papers, Ray discovers a missing trial file for a case his father heard on the Gulf Coast in January 1999. Suspecting a connection to the money, he drives from Clanton to the Gulf Coast to investigate. He and Harry Rex officially open the estate in probate court. To confirm she is not involved, Ray gives Claudia Gates $25,000, which she accepts, proving she is unaware of the larger fortune.

In the Hancock County courthouse, Ray finds the file for Gibson v. Miyer-Brack, a wrongful death lawsuit in which Judge Atlee awarded the plaintiffs $11.1 million against a pharmaceutical giant. The plaintiff’s attorney was Patton French, a massively successful mass tort lawyer whose career was launched by the verdict. Ray’s apartment is broken into again, and he arranges to meet French.

French hosts Ray for dinner on his yacht, the King of Torts. He confesses that, as a “gift” of gratitude for the career-making verdict, he sent Judge Atlee $3 million in cash. The money was delivered by French’s bagman, Gordie Priest, who later stole from French and disappeared. French believes Priest and his brothers are following Ray to get the $3 million and reveals he has hired men to “neutralize” them. As Ray drives back to Clanton, he learns the Bonanza has been destroyed by a firebomb at the Charlottesville airport. Back at Maple Run, he receives another threatening photo of his third storage unit.

Later, in the middle of the night, a brick is thrown through a window with a note demanding Ray return the money to its hiding place and leave. A subsequent phone call repeats the threat. Panicked, Ray puts the cash back into the cabinet in the study and flees. He is stopped for speeding and, while at the jail, learns Maple Run is on fire. The house and the money are destroyed.

The next day, Ray tells Harry Rex the entire story. Patton French later calls to report that Gordie Priest and his brothers were “located” before the house fire and so cannot be the arsonists. Harry Rex visits Ray in Charlottesville and reveals that a witness saw Forrest with the Judge in Tupelo the week he died. Harry Rex now believes the will was a forgery, especially since Forrest recently checked into Morningstar Ranch, an expensive, yearlong rehab facility in Montana.

Ray flies to Montana to confronts Forrest, who admits everything: He found the money, forged the will and the summons, and kept their father heavily sedated on morphine for the last week of his life, “assisting” in his death. He confesses to hiring ex-convicts to follow Ray and burn the Bonanza but denies burning Maple Run. Forrest is now using the money to pay for his extensive rehab. He tells a defeated Ray they will talk again in a year.