Absence of Malice

Miami liquor wholesaler Michael Gallagher (Paul Newman), who is the son of a deceased criminal, awakes one day to find himself a front-page story in the local newspaper, which indicates that he is being investigated in the disappearance and presumed murder of a local longshoremen's union official, Joey Diaz.

The story was written by Miami Standard newspaper reporter Megan Carter (Sally Field), who reads it from a file left intentionally on the desktop of federal prosecutor Elliot Rosen (Bob Balaban). As it turns out, Rosen is doing a bogus investigation and has leaked it with the purpose of squeezing Gallagher for information.