Matlock talks to a law class about his career, and the subject of 'the perfect murder' comes up. When student Eddie Price disappears after getting into it with Mark Randall, the university believes that Matlock's speech may have incited one of the students to murder. To clear his name, Matlock and Leanne decide to engage the students into an investigation into Eddie's disappearance, and soon learn that Eddie had more than they thought in common with not only Mark, but also Bobby Simpson as well -- they had all shared the same girlfriend.

Matlock is the unlikely witness when a boat blows up killing Judge Michael Sterns. Had it not been for Ben's sea-sickness, he would have been on the boat. Convinced that someone was out to get him and not Judge Sterns, Matlock, Cliff and Jerri take a look through some of Ben's old cases to find out who did it, and Matlock takes on the case of the man accused of the crime, a former lawyer who had been disbarred for jury tampering exactly five years earlier.