In New York, the divorced attorney Michael Clayton has been working for many years fixing messy situations for the law firm Kenner, Back and Odeen. He has never been invited to become a partner due to his conflictive personality of poker gambler and alcoholic that left him completely broken. Michael's addicted brother owes a high amount to a dangerous loan shark and Michael is trying to find a means to cover the debts. When the brilliant attorney Arthur Edens that has been ahead of the U-North case, a complicated three billion dollars lawsuit, for six years has a nervous breakdown and is arrested naked in a parking area in Milwaukee, Michael tries to help his friend, and is involved in an evil scheme plotted by Karen Crowder, the legal counsel of U-North.
