Eddie Cooper

Nasir 'Naz' Khan is a Pakistani-American college student who lives with his family--father Salim, mother Safar, and younger brother Hasan--in Queens, NY. An avid fan of his school's basketball team, Naz is thrilled when a player invites him to a party that night in Manhattan. When his friend Amir bails on driving him into the city, Naz decides to lift the keys to the taxi his father co-owns, taking the cab without telling his parents. Driving downtown, Naz is detoured when a young woman, Andrea, jumps into his cab and convinces Naz to take her on a trip around Manhattan--one that ends with the two of them in the woman's Upper West Side brownstone. But what started out as a fantasy tryst ends up being a nightmare for Naz, as he's arrested for murder shortly after leaving Andrea's place. Following an interrogation in Precinct 21 by homicide detective Dennis Box, Naz asks for a lawyer--and finds one when John Stone, a world-weary, eczema-afflicted defense attorney hustling small-time cases in the city, shows up at the precinct and offers Naz his services.

Instructed by Stone not to talk to anyone, Naz breaks his promise when his parents arrive at the precinct. Later, he's transferred to Central Booking and, after pleading not guilty at his arraignment, to Rikers Island. Detective Box talks to Don Taylor, Andrea Cornish's stepfather, about the victim's troubled past. At his apartment, Stone bonds with his son Gooden before Kara, Stone's ex and Gooden's mom, drops by to pick up the boy. Helen Weiss, a prosecuting attorney, meets with Box to discuss the evidence against Naz.