The summary of the plot of John Grisham’s novel “The Runaway Jury” is as follows:

A large tobacco company is in the crossfire of a civil trial, one of many that precede it, but of which all have failed. This one is destined to be a rigmarole of a trial. This one is in the hands of the jury, which is controlled by a single man.

It begins with a jury selection fueled with money and power from both sides of the trial. The selection goes well, but there is a mysterious man in the mix, one who either side feels is uncontrollable. the trial begins and the plaintiff fiercely fights by using convincing emotional tactics to sway the jury. Once the plaintiff turns it over to the defense, strange things begin to happen. Jurors are being sent home left and right to a myriad of causes. Little do people know that the strange man Nicholas Easter is behind these “bumpings”. It quickly becomes clear to the jury mastermind of the defense, Rankin Fitch, that this man is in control, and he can little to stop him. Nicholas lives under an assumed identity and in secrecy. Fitch sends two of his goons to Nicholas’ apartment to find out who he is, and they steal his computer and then light the place aflame. Luckily, Nicholas is a smart man, and his computer is impenetrable. The defense then begins their case, and they use cold facts and hardened doctors to try and sway the jury. Meanwhile Easter is running the game, by becoming friends with the jurors and making sure he can secure their votes in the end. His girlfriend Marlee is all this time assuring Fitch that they will secure a defense verdict in exchange for 10 million dollars in cash. Finally, as the jury deliberates the case, and Nicholas sways them in an unexpected way. He wants a plaintiffs verdict, because Marlee’s parents died terrible deaths of addiction to cigarettes. He sways the jury to his way of thinking and secures the verdict for a huge sum of money. He and Marlee escape the states and make a killing on tobacco stocks, and then return the money they took from Fitch to him.