Private Investigator Tom O'Toole (Nick Nolte) is faced with the two most dangerous mysteries of his career. One is a small town murder. The other is the seductive young woman who's hired him to solve it. When Angela (Debra Winger) hires O'Toole to prove the innocence of a local teenager, he soon realizes that nothing is as it seems. What he does know for certain, he's falling for his client. What he doesn't know could get him killed.

In EVERYBODY WINS, directed by Karel Reisz from a screenplay by Arthur Miller, Debra Winger plays Angela Crispini, a dim woman who believes that corrupt court officials convicted an innocent boy of murder. The story comes from Miller's one act play, SOME KIND OF LOVE STORY, which generated speculation about whether the mercurial, always acting Angela Crispini character was based on his ex-wife Marilyn Monroe. But here, Miller changes the play's title to the highly ironic EVERYBODY WINS and skirts the topic. Angela Crispini hires Tom O'Toole (Nick Nolte), a private detective known for working on wrongful conviction cases, to help obtain a new trial for Felix ( Frank Military), a teenager convicted of the murder of his uncle. As the detective, Nolte slowly falls for the seductive Angela as she reveals more details of the case, dropping hints that make him suspect that she's in some way involved.

While the detective as a moral outsider pulling the masks off hypocritical authorities has become something of an American cliche, Miller steers away from the whodunit aspects, concentrating on the love affair, and Angela's shaky footing. Winger does an impressive job in a near split personality part that requires rapid shifting from one characterization to another. Miller provides a more character-driven detective story than is usual in the genre, but not one without suspense.