After being denied a promotion at the university where she teaches, Doctor Lily Penleric, a brilliant musicologist, impulsively visits her sister, who runs a struggling rural school in Appalachia. There she stumbles upon the discovery of her life – a treasure trove of ancient Scots-Irish ballads, songs that have been handed down from generation to generation, preserved intact by the seclusion of the mountains. With the goal of securing her promotion, Lily ventures into the most isolated areas of the mountains to collect the songs and finds herself increasingly enchanted.

Pete St. John is a powerful and successful political consultant, with clients spread around the country. When his long-time friend and client Ohio senator Sam Hastings decides to quit politics, he is rapidly drafted to help with the campaign of the man destined to succeed him, unknown and mysterious businessman Jerome Cade…

When a Supreme Court judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered, all fingers point to Carl Anderson (Liam Neeson), a homeless veteran who’s deaf and mute. But when public defender Kathleen Riley (Cher) is assigned to his case, she begins to believe that Anderson may actually be innocent. Juror Eddie Sanger (Dennis Quaid), a Washington lobbyist, agrees, and together the pair begins their own investigation of events.