Filmmaker Liz Garbus investigates the mysterious tragedy of Diane Schuler in an effort to understand what went wrong.

A grieving family whose daughter was killed in a car crash with a drunken driver is outraged and frustrated as they encounter the inevitable bureaucratic delays in bringing the case to trial. Once in the courtroom, they are horror-stricken as the young, hard-pressed district attorney seems unable to overcome the technicalities and maneuverings that the driver's attorney uses to keep his client out of jail and still on the streets as a legal driver. When the judge is forced to rule time and again in favor of the defense, it appears that the driver might escape punishment altogether.

When a substance abuse counsellor gets arrested for a DUI and returns to her hometown of Niagara Falls, she learns that her estranged father is dying of cancer and wants her to form a bond with her teenage half-sister that she's never met.