Presumed Innocent has a large and rich cast of characters who all play critical roles in the development of the plot. At the center of the story is thirtynine-year-old Rozat "Rusty" Sabich, the son of a Yugoslavian immigrant who had fled the Nazis in the second World War. Rusty believes he has escaped the cruel and brutal world of his father to become a regular citizen of an unnamed Midwestern city. Now the chief deputy in the prosecuting attorney's office, he is married to Barbara, a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics, and they have a nine-year-old son, Nat.

Yet, as he gradually comes to realize, the dark forces that were part of his heritage are still part of him although they are tightly repressed.

Rusty had originally been attracted to his wife, Barbara, because of her apparent normalcy. However, even though their marriage had been largely successful, Rusty...