Sydney J. Solomon is a Chicago family court judge capable of intimidating the toughest prosecutor and the most hardened repeat offender, but she is barely able to rule over her own four kids: Mike, a reluctant college student intent on taking a non-academic route to "finding himself"; sardonic 16-year-old Neal; computer-obsessed 13-year-old Marshall who communicates with his dad on the Internet; and hyperactive 11-year-old Ellis. Other significant players in Sydney's life are her co-jurist and friend Gil Fitzpatrick and sister Greer, a trophy wife content to just work on her herb garden.