Peter Sanderson (STEVE MARTIN) is a divorced, straight-laced, uptight attorney who still loves his ex-wife (JEAN SMART) and can't figure out what he did wrong to make her leave him. However, Peter's trying to move on, and he's smitten with a brainy, bombshell barrister he's been chatting with on-line. However, when she comes to his house for their first face to face, she isn't refined, isn't Ivy League, and isn't even a lawyer. Instead, it's Charlene (QUEEN LATIFAH), a prison escapee who's proclaiming her innocence and wants Peter to help clear her name. But Peter wants nothing to do with her, prompting the loud and shocking Charlene to turn Peter's perfectly ordered life upside down, jeopardizing his effort to get back with his wife and woo a billion dollar client (JOAN PLOWRIGHT). In the end, our unlikely pair has the chance to put each other's lives on higher ground, if they don't end up bringing down the house.