Emily Rose, a 19-year old American teenager, dies of self-inflicted wounds and malnutrition
following an attempted exorcism. People say she was possessed by 6 demons. Father Richard
Moore, the Catholic diocesan priest who attempted the exorcism is arrested and sent to court.
While the archdiocese want Moore to plead guilty to minimize the crime's public attention,
Moore instead plans to plead not guilty. Erin Bruner, an ambitious lawyer hoping to use the trial
to become a senior partner in her law firm, takes on the case. Moore agrees to let her defend him
if he can tell the truth behind Emily's story.
During the trial, Emily's past is told through flashbacks and the evidence provided by witnesses.
The trial's prosecutor is Ethan Thomas, a practicing Methodist, with Judge Brewster presiding.
The prosecution claims Emily suffered from epilepsy and psychosis to explain her behavior.
Emily received a scholarship to study for a bachelor's degree but displayed signs of demonic
possession after she began attending classes, experiencing visions and physical contortions.
Diagnosed with epilepsy, Emily received anti-seizure medication but the treatment failed to cure
her. A friend named Jason took Emily back home to her family, where she continued displaying
traits of possession until Moore was summoned to attempt an exorcism.
Bruner begins experiencing supernatural phenomena at home, waking up at 3:00 a.m. to the
smell of burning material. Moore warns her she may be a target for the demons, revealing he too
has experienced similar phenomena on the night he was preparing the exorcism. With the
prosecution building a strong case, Bruner steps up her own by trying to legitimize Emily's
possession. She summons anthropologist Sadira Adani to testify about the beliefs about spiritual
possession from various cultures, but Thomas dismisses her claims as nonsense. Graham
Cartwright, a medical doctor who attended the exorcism, gives Bruner a cassette tape on which
the exorcism was recorded.
Moore is called to the stand where he plays the tape. As seen in a flashback, Moore, Emily's
father, Jason, and Dr. Cartwright participate in the exorcism while her mother and sisters pray in
the living room. During the Lord's Prayer, Emily attacks, causing the family cats to become
agitated and attack Moore. As Jason and Cartwright help Moore, Emily escapes from her
restraints, leaps out of a window, and flees to the family barn. The others give chase, Moore
continuing the exorcism and demanding to know the demon's name. It responds by revealing
there are six demons – those who possessed Cain, Nero, and Judas Iscariot, a member of Legion,
Belial, and Lucifer himself. The exorcism abruptly ends when the men render aid to Emily's
father, injured by runaway horses. Thomas reasons that Emily's behavior can be explained by
learning ancient languages at school and her epilepsy.
Cartwright agrees to testify to authenticate the exorcism and refute the prosecution's medical
care. However, he fails to appear at his allotted time, and Bruner goes looking for him. Seconds
after finding Cartwright, the doctor is fatally struck by a car. A distraught Bruner retreats to her
office and is warned by her boss that if she allows Moore to testify again, he will fire her. Bruner
visits Moore in his jail cell, where he convinces her to allow him to tell the rest of Emily's story
despite her boss's threat.
The next day, Moore takes the witness stand again and reads a letter that Emily wrote before she
died. A flashback reveals that on the morning after the exorcism, Emily was visited by the Virgin
Mary in a field near her house. Offered a choice between ascending to Heaven or remaining to
become a martyr but prove the existence of God and demons, Emily chose the latter. Moore
explains she then received stigmata on her arms, but Thomas claims she gained the markings
from grabbing a barbed wire fence surrounding the Rose family farm.
The jury ultimately reaches a verdict of guilty but surprise the court by asking Judge Brewster to
give a sentence of time served. Although momentarily shocked by the suggestion, she ultimately
accepts it, and Father Moore is free to go. Bruner is offered the position she wanted, but declines.
Later, Moore and Bruner pay a visit to Emily's grave wherein the former states that the time will
come wherein Emily will be declared a saint.
