After the sudden death of her father, San Francisco mediator Kate Reed must work with her stepmother, who’s the same age, to keep his firm alive by resolving a dispute between a clothing magnate and his son, who’s due to inherit the business, and hiding a dark personal secret which could ruin an innocent boy’s life.
Kate mediates a settlement between the State of California and Steve Jenks, a wrongfully convicted man who spent 22 years in prison. As Kate tries to put a price on the years he lost, Steve escapes into a prison of his own making, refusing to deal with the pain of his past -- until, when pushed, he explodes.
While mediating a dispute between the star of the cooking show "Burnin' with Bo" and the company releasing his barbecue sauce, Kate discovers that Bo's assistant Beth is actually the brains behind the business -- and that Bo's holding her up for a bigger piece of the profits. But none of this matters when someone from Beth's past emerges to claim an even bigger piece for himself.
The exasperated young inventor of a revolutionary new device, Marcus, threatens to jump to his death when John, his employer and the rights holder to Marcus' invention, asks Kate to mediate his firing. Kate must get Marcus off the ledge, recover the device, which he's stolen, and find a fair resolution for both the disenchanted employee and his former boss.
Paul Shelton, lead singer of the 1990s one-hit-wonder band, Ultravinyl, seeks Kate’s help to cash in on a lucrative offer for use of their song in a commercial. What seems like a slam dunk stalls when Paul’s former bandmates refuse to negotiate, and Paul reveals the real reason he needs Kate’s help.