In the near future, an ambitious young judge holds victims of crime to account in the Court of Reckoning while harbouring a dangerous secret.

SYNOPSIS:

Good things happen to good people, right? So it naturally follows that if bad things happen to you, you must have done something to deserve it…

JUDGE EVA ROGAN (38) holds victims of crime to account in the Court of Reckoning, sentencing them based on their level of culpability in the crimes committed against them. Outside her court, protestors gather in response to the increasingly draconian laws being passed by The People’s Party, elected on the promise of ‘Tough on Crime, Tough on the Causes of Crime’ – one of the causes being people allowing themselves to become victims. Crime rates are plummeting as victims become fearful of reporting, lulling the rest of society into a false sense of security, but Eva is convinced the independent judiciary will hold the government in check.

Eva, herself a victim of coercive control at the hands of her partner DAVID (48), finds herself pregnant. When she realises her faith in the law has been misplaced, she joins forces with the sole journalist allowed in court, JARLATH DUFFY (35). She gives him an interview that sets her on a collision course with both her abusive husband and the profession to which she’s dedicated her life.

Eva reaps what she’s sown when she faces her own Reckoning and is sent to prison. Initially ostracised by the other women, she ends up humbled by their compassion when her baby is taken from her arms as soon as she gives birth. They give her the strength to keep going, for the sake of the son she didn’t get the chance to name. She throws herself into campaigning for victim reform and trying to improve the regime for the other women, whose needs are being woefully neglected by the authorities.

On her release, her former court clerk MARTINA (40) brings Eva to a place of safety, part of a growing underground movement to help victims. Eva and Martina make plans to rescue Eva’s son from David, turning to Jarlath for help. Martina snatches the baby while David is distracted and brings him to Eva at Jarlath’s remote cottage. While Jarlath organises their escape, David tracks them down and a violent confrontation ensues. Jarlath returns to find Eva cradling her baby next to David’s corpse. He buries the body before they make good their escape.

Across the country, people start tuning into The Real People’s Voice, a pirate radio station broadcasting personal testimonies as a fight-back against the oppressive regime. Eva’s sacrifices have not been in vain.