***Spoilers*** When it becomes evident that a newborn baby found dead floating in a nearby lake is that of Amish teenager Katie Ficth, Alison Pill, all hell breaks loose in the Lancaster County Amish community where Katie lives. It's just can't be that a member of the god fearing and law-abiding Amish could have committed such a dastardly and ungodly deed! Having sex out of marriage and killing one's own child at birth!
With defense attorney Ellie Harrison, Mariska Hargitay, taking on the case in Katie's behalf she soon realizes that her client is holding back some very vital evidence that if made available in her defense could very well clear her of the murder charge. Katie seems to feel more guilty in her thoughts not her actions, if any, in both her getting pregnant and the death of her baby, a boy, both which she emphatically denies.
With Katie facing both disgrace in the Amish Comunity as well as a 10 to 15 year sentence if convicted in her child's death she starts to crack under the pressure and slowly the awful truth comes out. That happens when Katie's disowned, by the man of the Fitch household father Aaron played by Jack Niklas, older brother Jacob, Alec McClure, shows up at the Fitch farm to lend support to his beleaguered kid sister.
***SPOILERS**** With guilt written all over his face it turns out that Jacob was the one responsible for Katie problems. Being kicked out of the Fitch household by his outraged dad Aaron for disobeying him and going to collage, to get his mind corrupted, Jacob invited Katie to spend some time with him in the big city. It's there where she got romantically involved, after getting drunk, with fellow collage student Adam Sinclair, Christopher Ralph. As it turned out it was Adam who put a drunk and unconscious Katie in the "family way" without her knowing him about it, by going abroad to study for his doctorate in far off Spain, until it was too late.
With her now going on trial for the murder of her newborn child Katie is steadfast not to defend her actions in her child death even if it means that she'll end up being found guilty and sent to prison. As it turns out Katie is far more distraught to having been found out to have had sex out of marriage with Adam then to that of the death of her own child!
***MAJOR SPOILER*** With all the jolts and surprises in the movie the ending is a real mind blower! It's then that a by now shell shocked, from what she went through in the trail, Ellie Harrison got the truth to who was responsible for Katie's baby's death for the person who committed it! That mind blowing revelation was something so unbelievable that it completely eclipsed everything else that happened up until then in the movie! And left Ellie in such a state of shock that she a top flight defense attorney, who's seen everything there is to see in crimes committed, was left totally speechless!
With defense attorney Ellie Harrison, Mariska Hargitay, taking on the case in Katie's behalf she soon realizes that her client is holding back some very vital evidence that if made available in her defense could very well clear her of the murder charge. Katie seems to feel more guilty in her thoughts not her actions, if any, in both her getting pregnant and the death of her baby, a boy, both which she emphatically denies.
With Katie facing both disgrace in the Amish Comunity as well as a 10 to 15 year sentence if convicted in her child's death she starts to crack under the pressure and slowly the awful truth comes out. That happens when Katie's disowned, by the man of the Fitch household father Aaron played by Jack Niklas, older brother Jacob, Alec McClure, shows up at the Fitch farm to lend support to his beleaguered kid sister.
***SPOILERS**** With guilt written all over his face it turns out that Jacob was the one responsible for Katie problems. Being kicked out of the Fitch household by his outraged dad Aaron for disobeying him and going to collage, to get his mind corrupted, Jacob invited Katie to spend some time with him in the big city. It's there where she got romantically involved, after getting drunk, with fellow collage student Adam Sinclair, Christopher Ralph. As it turned out it was Adam who put a drunk and unconscious Katie in the "family way" without her knowing him about it, by going abroad to study for his doctorate in far off Spain, until it was too late.
With her now going on trial for the murder of her newborn child Katie is steadfast not to defend her actions in her child death even if it means that she'll end up being found guilty and sent to prison. As it turns out Katie is far more distraught to having been found out to have had sex out of marriage with Adam then to that of the death of her own child!
***MAJOR SPOILER*** With all the jolts and surprises in the movie the ending is a real mind blower! It's then that a by now shell shocked, from what she went through in the trail, Ellie Harrison got the truth to who was responsible for Katie's baby's death for the person who committed it! That mind blowing revelation was something so unbelievable that it completely eclipsed everything else that happened up until then in the movie! And left Ellie in such a state of shock that she a top flight defense attorney, who's seen everything there is to see in crimes committed, was left totally speechless!