Sam Bowden is actually a attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What exactly do they have in common? Fourteen years back, Sam had been a public defender assigned to the rape trial of Max Cady, and he made a critical error: he hid a record . The cagey, bibliophile Cady has been published, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.