Wealthy, brilliant, and meticulous Ted Crawford, a structural engineer in Los Angeles, shoots his wife and entraps her lover. He signs a confession; at the arraignment, he asserts his rights to represent himself and asks the court to move immediately to trial. The prosecutor is Willy Beachum, a hotshot whos soon to join a fancy civil-law firm, told by everyone its an open and shut case. Crawford sees Beachums weakness, the hairline fracture of his character: Willys a winner. The engineer sets in motion a clockwork crime with all the objects moving in ways he predicts.