Trama

A juror in a Mafia trial is forced by a compulsive mob enforcer to convince the other jurors to vote not guilty.

When Annie Laird is selected as a juror in a big Mafia trial, she is forced by someone known as "The Teacher" to persuade the other jurors to vote "not guilty". He threatens to kill her son if she doesn't commit. When the trial is over, he can't let her go...—Thomas Meyer <i03a@zfn.uni-bremen.de>

Annie Laird (Demi Moore) is a sculptor who lives in New York with her son Oliver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Annie works as a data entry clerk. Annie is selected to be a juror in the trial of mob boss Louie Boffano (Tony Lo Bianco), who is accused of ordering the murder of federal informant Salvatore Riggio and his entire family including his son Tommy (Joe Perrino) and wife (Rosemary De Angelis).

Annie claims to have no time to read the newspapers and has no knowledge of the Boffano case. The judge warns her that this might be a lengthy trial and that she would be sequestered during the deliberations. Annie says that she would like to serve, and she will get someone to look over Oliver while she is sequestered. Almost immediately, she is being followed by one of the mafia men named Eddie. A man named Vincent also enters her house to plant bugs and listening devices. Vincent carefully observes the house and tells Eddie over the wireless that Annie is both smart and sexy. Vincent also scans all the photos and documents he can find inside the house.

Annie meets a man named Mark Cordell (Alec Baldwin). He buys some of Annie's artwork, and then meets her outside the gallery. Mark invites Annie to lunch and they have a casual conversation about how Mark makes sure that artists like Annie do not have to worry about whether her kids are being fed. They make plans to meet for dinner.

Mark then wines and dines her before Annie discovers that Mark is better known as Vincent "The Teacher". He is Boffano's enforcer, and the material perpetrator of the hit job for which Boffano is being prosecuted. After Mark leaves, Annie realizes that her entire house is bugged. Annie gets calls from her old friends, but she rebuffs them and talks to them rudely, to make sure that they don't call again and this way Mark will not have additional leverage on her.

Meanwhile, the trial is underway, and the defense attorney makes his case to prove that the Teacher is the real leader of the mafia and that Boffano was simply following his counsel. The trick is that nobody knows the identity of the Teacher. Mark tells Annie to convince the jury to acquit Boffano, or she and Oliver will die. Faced with this impossible situation, Annie finds herself in a desperate fight for survival.

Annie had been living in fear that Boffano, would be acquitted despite the evidence against him. Annie approaches her best friend, Juliet (Anne Heche) who is a doctor and tells her about the complete situation. Juliet asks Annie to speak to the judge. Annie attempts to quit jury duty by faking her son a sickness, the note for which is written by Juliet herself. Annie tries to speak to the judge privately, but he refuses and says that Annie will have to present her case in front of the entire court.

However, Annie is forced to change her mind when as a warning, Mark took her for her drive and almost killed Oliver to scare her. During the trial, she was scared to take the stand. Eddie (Mark's partner) then sends Mark's car with a victim over a cliff, further frightening Annie convincing jury to acquit Boffano through sheer force of personality and persuasiveness.

After the trial, Boffano wonders if maybe Annie should disappear, because Boffano sees Annie as a loose end. Mark has a problem with this because he has developed feelings for Annie. To keep Annie under his control by instilling fear, Mark then went after Annie's friend Juliet.

After having sex with her, Mark reveals himself to Juliet as being Annie's stalker. He pulls a gun and forces Juliet to take a fatal drug overdose. Mark boasts of Juliet's murder to his partner Eddie (James Gandolfini). Unlike Mark, Eddie was sympathetic to Annie, as he was a parent himself.

Annie hides Oliver in Tui Cuch, Guatemala with her friend Boone (Matt Craven). Tui Cuch is rural village in Guatemala where she had previously studied artwork with the local community.

The prosecutor, who has figured out that Annie was threatened by Mark, wants her to turn state's witness so they can bring him to justice and prevent him from taking over the Boffano empire. Annie is scared of the consequences of testifying against Mark, but eventually decides that it's the right thing to do to ensure her son's safety. She contacts the prosecutor and agrees to testify, setting in motion a chain of events that will hopefully bring justice to those who have wronged her and her son. Mark now plans to take over Boffano's empire.

Annie had been working with the prosecutor for weeks, trying to gather evidence against Mark. She had done all the research and had a feeling she could get him to confess and incriminate himself. When the DA's office has her wear a wire, Annie removes it and gives it to Eddie insinuating she and Mark are now a couple and that she does not want him to be arrested. Annie instructing Eddie to leave her and Mark alone. Annie then succeeds in getting Mark to incriminate himself in a boastful rant on his ambitions, which are recorded on a hidden tape recorder. She then uses the tape to tip off Boffano to Mark's plans.

Boffano schedules a meeting to "deal" with Mark. Eddie arranges the meeting. Boffano's plan backfires when Mark, seizing the opportunity, kills Boffano with a car bomb and guns down Boffano's son Joseph (Michael Rispoli), along with their henchmen. He also slashes Eddie's throat. Mark is furious at Annie for setting him up. He calls her, revealing his knowledge of Oliver's whereabouts and his intention to travel to Guatemala to kill Oliver.

In Guatemala, there is a showdown when Mark arrives. After Mark chases Oliver into a structure, natives shoot Mark. Annie gets hold of his gun, and when Mark tries to pull a weapon from his ankle holster, she kills him in a blind frenzy. Oliver is unharmed, and he and his mother return home.