Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide contain references to anti-gay bias, racism, enslavement, drug and alcohol addiction, and suicide, as well as graphic descriptions of homicide crime scenes.

The narrative opens in the Colleton County courthouse during Alex Murdaugh’s trial. Alex stood accused of murdering his wife Maggie and his son Paul. Bauerlein highlights the trial’s main elements, such as witnesses and evidence, and refers to the key players without naming them. Alex’s family were lawyers and solicitors in the region for over 100 years. As such, the court officials, witnesses, and jurors were all connected to Alex or his family. Alex tried to keep a calm demeanor, but his nervous ticks betrayed his anxiety, and the jurors soon recognized Alex’s performative behaviors.

Against his lawyers’ advice, Alex took the stand. The defense questioned his timeline on the night of the murders, which he lied about throughout the investigation. Alex saw Maggie and Paul only a few minutes before they were killed, but he concealed this fact from detectives. Prosecutors used this lie and Alex’s history of stealing from his clients to demonstrate that his assertation of innocence was yet another deception.