Life Sentence

In 1988, Dolores Kennedy, a divorced, legal secretary in her late-thirties, lives a lonely life, isolated by her long hours of work to support her three children in their late teens. A pale, thin smoker, she longs to remarry and settle into a traditional family life.
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She works for a law firm that represents the family of a 6-year-old girl, brutally murdered in Chicago just after World War II. The firm opposes the release of the girl’s confessed killer, William Heirens. The family worries that Dolores might present a conflict of interest because, unbeknownst to Dolores, her father, Norval Hodges, a lawyer, helps represent Heirens.
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In an attempt to improve their poor, father-daughter relationship, Dolores accepts her father’s invitation to join him on trip to visit the prisoner. Dolores looks forward to the time with Norvel only to have the trip abruptly cancelled when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. On his deathbed, Norval requests Dolores make the trip to visit Heirens without him.

After her father’s death, she wrestles with his request. When she reluctantly honors Norval and visits the minimum-security prison, the prisoner, Bill Heirens, surprises her with his charm and intelligence. During subsequent visits over the course of a year, their relationship grows.
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Dolores’ budding relationship shocks and embarrasses Dolores’ late teen children, especially her youngest, Kathleen. She can’t comprehend her mother’s attraction to a prisoner who served 42 years for confessing the notorious murder of a 6-year-old girl.

While Dolores helps Bill research his case for a parole hearing, she discovers strong evidence to substantiate his claim of innocence and a forced confession. She concludes he was the scapegoat for a botched murder investigation by the Chicago Police. Dolores’ new passion and mission also reflect on her physically as she gains weight and stops smoking.
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As Bill’s legal pleas fall victim to prejudice and politics, Dolores becomes Bill’s public advocate, writing a book about the case and arranging a television magazine segment on ABC’s Primetime Live.
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Her public appearances on Bill’s behalf serve to further alienate her children, eventually driving Kathleen to completely sever all communication with her mother. In a last-ditch effort to convince her daughter of Bill’s innocence, Dolores gives Kathleen a copy of the Primetime Live segment, “The Wrong Man”. Kathleen refuses to watch it.
  
Dolores doesn’t waver in her campaign for Bill even when threatened by anonymous death threats.  She rekindles hope for Bill’s release when the Northwestern University Center for Wrongful Convictions presents Bill’s clemency case to the Governor of Illinois. Governor Ryan signals he will parole Bill only to reverse himself at the last minute to avoid confusion with the 156 death row sentences he commutes to life without parole.

The Governor’s televised speech inspires Kathleen to watch the Primetime Live segment and reassess her lack of support for her mother.
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Bill offers Dolores a chance to escape her life sentence, a relationship with an imprisoned man. Torn by the decision, Delores refuses but Bill ends the relationship, forcing her to reunite with her family. The failure of all her efforts on Bill’s behalf depresses Delores until she discovers Kathleen watched the Governor’s commutation speech and Primetime Live segment. Kathleen, embarrassed but remorseful, apologizes to Delores for abandoning her. All three of Delores’ children pledge their support for Delores and travel with her to visit Bill’s prison where they witness the Chaplain unite Dolores and Bill.