Sam Bowden is a lawyer in the town of New Essex, North Carolina. Max Cady is a former client whom Bowden defended 14 years earlier when he was working as a public defender in Atlanta. Cady was tried for the violent rape and battery of a young woman. Bowden, appalled by Cady's crime, buried evidence that might have lightened Cady's sentence or even secured his acquittal. After his release from prison, Cady tracks down Bowden. He studied law in prison and assumed his own defense, unsuccessfully appealing his conviction several times. Cady hints he has learned about Bowden burying the report.