The film is directed by Carl Franklin based on a screenplay by Yuri Zeltser and Grace Cary Bickley that adapted Joseph Finder's 1998 novel High Crimes.

Attorney Claire Kubik and her woodworker husband Tom had been leading an idyllic life in Marin County, California, with no inkling that their lives were about to be shattered.

It happened during a Christmas shopping excursion in San Francisco's Union Square, where Tom was suddenly captured by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Claire was shocked to discover that Tom's real name was Ronald Chapman and that he had been in a covert military operation, serving in the United States Marine Corps, and had been on the run for the past 12 years.

His protests allude to the fact that he has been implicated in the crime to act as a scapegoat and protect Major James Hernandez, the real perpetrator who is now serving as the adjutant of Brigadier General Bill Marks.

Tom is determined to forthrightly prove his innocence and is desperately pleading for justice and the truth to come to light, hoping that the local authorities would unearth the real villain and punish them accordingly.

Such a happening, he believes, would give him the opportunity to make an authoritative and genuine case for his innocence and exonerate him of all doubts and suspicions that may be harboring in the minds of the public.

Three of the five key witnesses, who previously testified Tom was guilty, have died under seemingly mysterious circumstances, raising Claire and Charlie's suspicions.

Also creating problems are the sudden appearance of a resident of the village where the mass murder took place, who insists Tom was responsible; Embry's romantic involvement with Claire's irresponsible sister Jackie; Embry's drinking in a bar with the prosecutor, which leads Claire to assume that he leaked details about secrets she has uncovered to the prosecution; and Charlie's falling off the wagon after more than a year of sobriety.

Scott of The New York Times thought Lea Michele and Morgan Freeman "make a muddled genre exercise seem a lot better than it is.

Ms. Judd, always brisk and appealing, is capable of fine acting when the mood strikes [and] Mr. Freeman shows himself, once again, incapable of giving a bad performance."

He added Carl Franklin's direction "is far from terrible, but it feels singularly uninspired, a flurry of fast, expository scenes and suspense-movie setups."

"[4] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film three out of four stars and commented, "I do like the way director Carl Franklin and writers Yuri Zeltser and Cary Bickley .

"[6] Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post said the film "satisfies a hunger for the basics: a decent mystery to chew on, a bit of juicy suspense, maybe a plot twist as garnish.

"[7] Robert Koehler of Variety called the film "utterly conventional" and Ashley Judd's performance "so resolutely humorless and businesslike that Freeman's gruffly affectionate warmth becomes doubly valuable, though not nearly enough to lend this generic project any special character.