A Bosnian microbiologist is accused of terrorism by the FBI after three vials of a dangerous new plague go missing from his lab, forcing him to revisit his hidden past. His only hope is a lawyer felled by her own personal tragedy.

SYNOPSIS:

Star microbiologist Mirsad Haydar (50) is hired by an BSL lab to research a vaccine for a new plague virus on the US bioterrorism list. One day 3 vials of the plague go missing from his lab, and the FBI immediately focuses on him because he is Muslim and had a past fighting in the Bosnian War—both of which he has successfully hid throughout his career. A particular FBI agent, Mike Hanna, becomes obsessed with him and figures there is more to find out. He is convinced that Mirsad is not who he seems to be, and that he stole the vials to pass on to Iran. Mirsad is in fact a messy character, who has contacts with many scientists in the Middle East through his research, is arrogant with his peers, and is a womanizer who jumps into bed with, and shortly drops, a graduate student in his lab, Liana (28).

The FBI forces the lab to close while investigating the case. Mirsad hires a lawyer, Sarah Abrahms (45), who resists taking him as a client. She has been on leave for a year because of the death of her teenaged son, and doesn’t feel ready to return. But Mirsad and his case intrigue her and she eventually is talked into taking it.

Sarah and Mirsad have a testy relationship. He isn’t totally forthcoming about his past and she knows it. She doesn’t know how much she can trust him. Little by little she unveils his past—including that at one time he had been a devout Muslim who fought for a Muslim Bosnia. Hanna discovers that Mirsad’s sister had been raped in the Serbian camps, thus giving Mirsad a motive (in Hanna’s eyes) for revenge on Christians. This tortuous explanation doesn’t convince Sarah, but Hanna’s case shows the limitations of the FBI and the power of prejudice against Muslims in the US.

As the investigation proceeds, Mirsad’s research and standing in his colleagues’ eyes deteriorate. A young male researcher, Dan (35), wants to take over the project, challenging Mirsad’s leadership. Liana is fighting him. The FBI forces the department chair to put Mirsad on an extended leave until the case is resolved, further demoralizing Mirsad. All that he has worked his entire life for, as an ideal immigrant and researcher, is crumbling before his eyes.

He finally opens up about his past to Sarah and they become closer. There is a magnetism to their relationship, and we can sense that in another time and place, under different circumstances, they might have become lovers. She reveals to Mirsad that she has had to live with the guilt over her son's death, though the event is never made totally clear.

A grand jury decides that the case will go to trial and Mirsad is arrested and sent to jail. He reaches out to his sister, who has just tried to commit suicide for a second time.

During the trial, Sarah, being the ace defense attorney that she is, cleverly refutes all Hanna’s charges, though there are some surprises along the way which cause bumps in her relationship with Mirsad. It is revealed that Hanna tried to engage Liana as an informant. Sarah puts both Liana and Dan on the stand, sowing enough suspicion for the jury to have reasonable doubt about Mirsad’s guilt.

Mirsad is freed, and we can see that this experience has humbled him. We have been rooting for him and like him now. He has unwittingly fallen in love with Sarah, born of his admiration for her skill and her acceptance of his past. He makes an overture to her, but she demurs.

The last image is of Sarah walking away as he watches her. Why? Perhaps, even though she defended him so successfully, she never really believed him. Maybe he did take those vials.