In 1931 in Los Angeles, criminal defence lawyer Perry Mason investigates a child kidnapping gone very wrong.

Evangelical preacher Sister Alice offers the Dodsons the church's full moral and financial support, much to her mother Birdy's dismay; during a routine domestic intervention, beat cop Paul Drake is rerouted to a gruesome crime scene.

Maynard Barnes goes public with a shocking new development; Mason and Strickland get unauthorised access to physical evidence with help from Virgil; Mason attempts to extract information from Drake.

Mason and Strickland lean on Virgil for extra-legal assistance; following Sister Alice's recovery from a frightening episode, Birdy urges her daughter to renounce her claims about baby Charlie.

Strickland tracks down the sergeant originally assigned to the Dodson case while Mason and Della run a solemn errand up north; Della sets out to find Mrs Dodson more capable legal representation.

A damning witness testimony begins Emily's trial; Della and Strickland investigate a potential connection between Detective Ennis and Charlie's kidnappers; Mason considers betraying Drake's trust.