Jo Mills leads for the prosecution and Brian Cantwell for the defence when a British member of parliament, Alan Roxborough, is tried on a charge of attempting to murder his boyfriend with a frying pan. As usual, there is a conspiracy in the background to pervert the course of justice, which may be connected to Roxborough's opposition to certain British arms deals.Meanwhile, Deed goes into therapy and has a brief affair with his therapist.

The case of Diana Hulsey, a single mother with terminal brain cancer who is suing a telephone company, is concluded in Deed's court. The Establishment dreads a verdict in Diana's favour, and Ian Rochester is yet again out to discredit the judge before he can deliver judgement. Rochester conspires with the phone company to accuse Deed of possessing child pornography, and Deed has to work out what to do when he finds it on his laptop.Meanwhile, Jo faces a conundrum when Diana asks her to look after her seven-year-old son when she is dead, which could be at any moment.

Jo Mills was planning to take time off work, but then she agrees to defend a man who escaped trial sixteen years before after he was charged with attempted murder. Jo is partly attracted to the case because she recognizes two of the detectives who are mixed up in it.

Deed has the case before him of a man charged with killing a paedophile, but the jury find the defendant not guilty. After his acquittal, the man calls a press conference and sends out a message calling for similar actions elsewhere. Meanwhile, Marc Thompson, Michael's real father, arrives in England from overseas. This seems to end Jo's hopes of adopting Michael, but she starts dating the new arrival, sending Deed into a jealous rage. Deed then unwisely starts a new affair with a woman appearing in his court as a claimant in an action, and Jo decides to move with Marc to South Africa.