Mystic River is perhaps one of the most mature and moving examinations on what has always been a divisive subject in Hollywood: the peculiar American old-school backdrop of violence and the flawed system of official justice. Jimmy (Sean Penn) is an ex-con whose daughter is brutally murdered on a night when his best friend of 30 years, Dave (Tim Robbins), claims to have killed a child molester. The last of the trio of friends, Sean (Kevin Bacon), is the homicide detective assigned to the murder mystery, along with an impartial aid Whitey (Laurence Fishburne).