Matt’s two jobs, vigilante and lawyer, start to butt heads and pull him in too many directions at once when Elektra’s personal war on the Yakuza interferes with Nelson and Murdock’s latest case.
Returning to the office, Matt finds Karen and Foggy sitting down with the defense attorney assigned to Frank Castle, and they learn that he’s going to be completely useless, and that Reyes is gunning for the death penalty. Matt suggests that Nelson and Murdock could step in to help negotiate a plea deal to at least save Frank’s life while Karen insists that there are other unknown circumstances around the case that may mitigate his guilt. Foggy gives in and they head for the hospital to talk to Frank.
Arriving at the hospital the three walk into a media circus, as everyone is interested in the Punisher case. Newly promoted detective Brett warns them that no other defenders will come near the case. They talk to Frank and he’s not particularly interested in working with scumbag lawyers who would defend someone like Grotto, but he changes his mind when Karen reveals that she went to his house and tells him that she wants answers about what happened to his family. The three are rushed out of the room with the sudden arrival of Reyes, and after a brief argument between the DA and Matt over conflicts of interest, Brett tells them that Frank has agreed to let Nelson and Murdock represent him.
As the firm regroups to figure out how to proceed, Matt is called away by an insistent Elektra, who has plans to infiltrate a Roxxon event to steal their corporate ledgers to find out what they are up to. While Foggy pours over the case trying to get Frank out from under the threat of the death penalty, Karen talks with him about his family and helps him to remember happier times. Meanwhile, Matt and Elektra join the party and steal accountant Stan Gibbson’s security pass so they can sneak into the Yakuza’s secret offices. They are able to uncover a hidden room and take the secret ledger tracking their illegal dealings, and manage to fight and sneak their way out past the guards.
Looking over the ledger, Elektra finds proof of drug smuggling, human trafficking, and a number of other criminal dealings, but they are baffled by one section that is encoded, and wonder what they could be doing that is so bad that it would need the extra security when everything else didn’t.
Across town, the arraignment of Frank Castle proceeds without Matt, and despite agreeing to plead guilty to the charges, Frank decides to stick it to Reyes and pleads not guilty, forcing his case to go to trial, and landing Nelson and Murdock in the trial of the century. Matt returns home to find Foggy waiting for him, upset that Matt was unreachable and unavailable for everything that happened with Frank, and tells him that the biggest trial of their lives is starting in less than a week.