In a small town in British Columbia, a school bus crashes and kills fourteen children. A lawyer from the city, Sam Dent (Ian Holm), arrives to persuade the victim’s family to file a class action suit against the city and the bus manufacturer for a big payoff. Some of the families want to sue to help deal with their grief, others for a payday, and one father, Billy (Bruce Greenwood) wants nothing to do with it. Consequently, the town is torn apart. Sam, meanwhile, confronts the loss of his own daughter to a drug overdose. During the trial, a girl crippled by the accident Nicole Burnell (Sarah Polley) provides testimony which will either clinch the case or destroy it and force the families to find another way to deal with their loss.