Orange County, Southern California, fall, 1971. Five young men meet as they register for law school. Derek McCall met Thomas Caine while they soldiered in Vietnam. Caine, a medical corpsman in a MASH facility, treated McCall's arm. They became pals while waiting out a three-day mortar seige. Back in The World both young continue their educations. McCall works in his father's construction business while Caine works at a hospital where he meets wealthy Kathryn Bradshaw who hopes to introduce him to a world of wealth and power. Jacob Rosen has two sons and a wife, Ruth. He brought them from Chicago to Dean Greenwood's private law school, and Jacob plans to graduate first in the class. He spends time with his new friends partly because he knows he will need contacts during his legal career. Privileged David Marshall is expected to be his family’s third generation lawyer. He wears expensive clothes, lives in Newport Beach, drives a Porsche, and marries beautiful Teri Henderson, daughter of a federal judge. Marshall's lifestyle is seriously threatened when he refuses to give Teri the child she demands. C. F. Hawke, half-breed Morongo Indian and tribal police officer, promises his tribe part of his legal career in exchange for a scholarship to Greenwood's school. He questions that commitment as his lust for Sarah Cooper, an attractive and bright young woman he meets at Marshall's party, turns to love. When Sarah’s father angrily ejects Hawke from his home because of his Indian blood, Sarah must choose between her man and her family. Beautiful Sandi Hardesty seeks a man who can provide her with a lavish lifestyle. She focuses on McCall, becomes pregnant, marries him, and watches her life fill with turmoil.Through law school, the California bar examination, and their first legal work, the young men learn the cost of their commitment to the law and the woman each one chose.
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