 Now in jail awaiting trial, Crawford engages in a battle of wits with rising star deputy district attorney William "Willy" Beachum (Ryan Gosling), who considers the case an open-and-shut matter and agrees to go to trial immediately.Beachum is preparing to transition from criminal law to a corporate attorneyship at well-known law firm Wooton Simms, and flirts with his future boss, Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike).At the trial, Crawford acts as his own attorney, thereby matching himself, an untrained litigant, against a star prosecutor.