A young and idealistic New York City public defender, burned out by the inequities in the legal system, on the brink of disbarment, and seeing signs of the universe collapsing all around him, makes the unlikely decision to participate in a high-stakes heist to deliver his own form of justice. 

                                                              SYNOPSIS

Adapted from the panoramic and provocative PEN prize-winning novel by Sergio De La Pava, NAKED SINGULARITY tells the story of Casi, a cocky young public defender whose idealism begins to crack as he suffers the daily injustices of the justice system. Confrontations with a vindictive judge, frustrations as his clients are railroaded by an unfair legal process, and now, the threat of disbarment, provoke Casi to grapple with the fact that his personal sense of justice might exist outside of the law.

Casi isn’t the only one who finds himself at the center of mounting chaos. Lea, a former client who can’t shake off the taint of a minor drug offense, is in trouble again. Another drug charge, but this minor crime is the tip of the iceberg. Hoping to buy her way to a new life, Lea has agreed to help Craig, a smalltime thief, steal a shipment of heroin from a powerful cartel.  Their target is a car awaiting auction at the tow pound where Lea works, an SUV carrying a hidden stash of drugs worth millions of dollars.   After Lea is caught with a sample of the heroin, Casi convinces her that her only option is to make a deal with the police to double cross Craig, an arrangement she accepts, but has no intention of honoring, because she sees the heist money as her life-or-death chance at redemption.  She pretends to play along with the police, secretly using her insider position at the tow pound to make Craig’s crazy plan a reality. 

The story takes an unexpected turn when Casi discovers Lea’s duplicity. – he’s grown close to her and understands how difficult it is for her, a smart and ambitious woman with dreams, to escape her past – but he has conflicting feelings about her larcenous way of fighting back.  He tells Dane, a fellow public defender who is equally disenchanted with the judicial system, about the undercover operation and Lea’s scheme to thwart it.  Dane counters with an outrageous proposal.  Why don’t they pull off a heist of their own, and steal the money from the criminals who are stealing money from criminals? 

He makes it all sound so easy – almost like Robin Hood, in a way. When Craig delivers the drugs to “The Golem,” a crime syndicate in Brooklyn, he and Casi can step in, snatch the money, and anonymously lead the police to the heroin.  The drugs will be off the street.  The money will go to the “good guys,” namely them. Everybody wins.  In an upside-down world, where wrong is right, money can buy anything, even justice. 

Reluctant at first, Casi ultimately sees the wisdom of fighting chaos with chaos, and these two unlikely lawbreakers embark on a covert heist that involves a high-speed chase, mortal combat with a samurai sword, a last-minute rescue of Lea, and a hard-won prize of fifteen million dollars. For Lea, the money is her ticket to a clean slate and a new life.  For Dane, it offers an escape from the drudgery of the courthouse.  But for Casi, who is still an idealist at heart, the cash is a way to combat inequity.  He heads back to court with deep pockets and a plan: he’ll beat the system by using his millions to fund bail money and legal counsel for the underdog defendants who never had a chance of winning…until now.