Ben is hired by a friend to defend his son, who is in the army, who's been charged with killing the sadistic lieutenant, whose mistreatment of his men led to the death of his friend.

Cliff's old college chum Craig Browning is defending Cameron Ivers on charges of vehicular manslaughter, and is being blackmailed about an affair he had to plead his client a certain way. Craig hires Cliff to meet the blackmailer to keep his hands clean, but when Scott Aston turns out dead, suspicion turns to Cliff, who needs to find the real killers. With Jerri's help, they manage to find out that Aston worked for John Robinson and Mark Reeves, two men who frequently like to get one-up on Ivers in the business world, and that the woman Craig has been having an affair with was their secretary. Ben prepares for his fortieth reunion by dieting to fit into his old choral suit.

When Cameron Ivers is killed in a hit and run accident, Matlock decides to take a closer look at Robinson and Reeves, hoping that if he can tie them to Cameron Ivers' death he'll be able to tie them to Scott Aston's death and clear Cliff. After gathering together a number of people Scott Aston had been investigating who were supposed to be dead, Matlock heads to Florida where he finds Chuck Ratner, and Cliff and Jerri learn that the people are all connected because they all turned down the same kind of life insurance. Matlock continues his quest to lose weight by his reunion, but fires his personal trainer.