A courtroom rivalry finds its way into the household when prosecuting lawyer Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy) faces off against his wife, Amanda (Katharine Hepburn), who happens to be a defense attorney. Working on opposite sides of a lawsuit where a woman (Judy Holliday) has shot her cheating husband (Tom Ewell), Adam and Amanda are both determined to win the case, and their home becomes the setting for comical showdowns, with neither spouse willing to relent.