It's 1952: Librarian Miss T. Iris Ginge would rather look things up than hunt down a killer. Iris is also very reasonable. So, when she has reasonable doubts of a socialite's guilt in the murder of her husband, a wealthy, Cuban retiree, Iris becomes the lone holdout against 11 men on the jury. The jury hangs: it's no-justice-as-usual in Chicago's Cook County Criminal Courthouse. It isn't over when it's over, though. After the trial, the killer is still "out there" -- out to get Iris.

The press blames Iris. Editorials accuse her of selling her vote. After a car tries to run her down on the sidwalk outside her apartment, Iris takes refuge in the library stacks where she's tracked down by a meter-maid who issued her Hudson a parking ticket in front of the courthouse and who seems to know a little bit too much about both Iris and the dead man.
Calamity McClurg--a P.I. wannabe--makes Iris an offer she can't refuse: "Let me help you catch the killer." Iris has no choice but to follow the breadcrumbs where they lead--into a Grimm’s fairytale of memories, where fathers betray daughters and daughters seek revenge.