The Beginning and The Notes and Transcripts: December 3-4, 1970 Summary

In January of 1971, a woman killed her husband in the small fishing village of St. Hilaire, Maine. The woman claimed she was acting in self defense. The woman's first trial ended in a mistrial. While awaiting her second trial, the woman is approached by a reporter working for the same magazine where the woman's husband was employed at the time of his death who is hoping to do a story on the case.

The beginning takes place in the present. A writer, Helen Scofield, arrives at the dorm room of Caroline English, the daughter of Mary Amesbury and Harrold English. In the seventies, Ms. Scofield wrote an article about Mary Amesbury and has brought her notes and research for the article for the young woman to read...