After the end of World War II, the world gradually became aware of the full extent of the war crimes perpetrated by the Third Reich. It has been three years since the most important Nazi leaders had already been tried. In 1948, a series of trials were held in Nuremberg by an international tribunal, headed by American legal and military officials, with the intent of bringing to justice those guilty of crimes against humanity. In this trial, the third of 13 infamous 1948 war-crime trials, retired American Judge Dan Haywood is overseeing the trials of four German judges — most notably Dr. Ernst Janning and Emil Hahn — accused of knowingly sentencing innocent men to death in collusion with the Nazis. In addition to this, they used their offices to conduct Nazi sterilization and cleansing policies. Representing the defense is attorney Hans Rolfe, while prosecuting the accused is U.S. Col. Tad Lawson. As the trial goes on, both the visiting Americans and their reluctant German hosts often find themselves facing the legacy of the war, and how both of their nations have been irrevocably changed by it. However, by that time most of the major figures of the Nazi regime were either dead or long missing, and in the resulting legal proceedings American judges often found themselves confronting the question of how much responsibility someone held who had "just followed orders." The Cold War is heating up and no one wants any more trials as Germany, and allied Governments, want to forget the past.