John Bookman - Book to his friends - is a tenured professor at the University of Texas School of Law. He's thirty-five, handsome and unmarried. He teaches Constitutional Law, reduces senators to blithering fools on talk shows, and is often mentioned as a future Supreme Court nominee.

But Book is also famous for something more unusual. He likes to take on lost causes and win. Consequently, when he arrives at the law school each Monday morning, hundreds of letters await him, letters from desperate Americans around the country seeking his help. Every now and then, one letter captures his attention and Book feels compelled to act.