Plot Synopsis

On a scorching, hot summer day in 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts, Lizzie Borden returns home to the house she shares with her father Andrew, stepmother Abby and sister Emma. But, unlike any normal day, Lizzie encounters the bloody scene of her parents violently murdered. Her father hacked to pieces almost beyond recognition. Two days after the murder, papers began reporting evidence that 33-year-old Lizzie might have had something to do with her parents' murders. Police quickly question multiple suspects in town, but evidence keeps pointing back to the Borden's youngest daughter Lizzie, the seemingly wholesome Sunday school teacher, as the prime suspect. After an inquest she is arrested and soon enters a plea of not guilty to the charges of murder. The trial opened on June 5, 1893 in the New Bedford Courthouse before a jury of 12 men. Her lawyer, Andrew Jennings, proclaims her innocence arguing that it is inconceivable a woman could commit the heinous crime of brutally murdering her family with an ax. As the case rages on, the courtroom proceedings fuel an enormous amount of sensationalized stories and headlines in newspapers throughout the country, forever leaving Lizzie Borden's name in infamy. On June 20, 1893 the jury deliberated an hour-and-a half before returning with its verdict of not guilty. No one else was ever arrested or tried for the crime.