Based on a true story, John Travolta plays the role of Jan Schlichtmann, a lawyer who is not in the business for anything but money. He is approached with a case where several deaths due to leukemia have occurred in a small town where drinking water seems to be the cause. At first, he refuses to help the families because he sees no possible profit. However, after finding out that the small leather manufacturer is part of a much larger company where there is lots of money available, he decides to help them.

In the beginning he does nothing more than act like he is concerned with the deaths, but is really in it for the money. After hearing several stories by parents who lost a child of leukemia and who believe it was a result of contaminated water, one of the stories changes him. The parents were taking their son to a clinic for sickness when he died on the way there. Jan later becomes very emotional about the incident and realizes that this case is about more than the money.

Jan and his colleagues lose everything they own and are in great debt after unsuccessfully trying to sue the leather company. With no convincing evidence, the case is dismissed. However, Jan and his colleagues do receive a payment of eight million dollars from the company. This, however, is just enough to pay off all of their bills for hiring investigative archaeological expeditions and their other expenses, as well as about three hundred thousand for each family. However, the families did not want money; they wanted someone to apologize for dumping hazardous waste into the area and making their water deadly. Thus, they do not receive what they want.

With nothing left to do, Jan sends the case to the Federal Court of Appeals. A short time later, the case is taken up and the EPA makes the company help restore the land because they were responsible for the contamination.  

A Civil Action demonstrates how a money hungry person can come to realize there is something more to life than money. Although I have often thought about how nice it would be to be very rich and having a lot at my disposal, which is the position Jan is in when he begins the case, I realize there is no true happiness in money. Jan finds this out a long time after he indulges in the pleasures of money and then comes out completely empty.

He is an example that you may have desires which are rooted in greed instead of love. However, you may change and come to realize money is nothing more than a distraction and there is real happiness when you help someone because you want to help. Jan realized that he would only be satisfied with the case if he could do what the families truly wanted: an apology. He is not concerned with the money that he has lost or the fact that he has nothing else. Jan continues to worry that justice will not be brought to anyone for their actions which contaminated the water.

The movie also brings into prospective the consequences that may result from not taking care of our environment. The leather company decided it did not want to pay for proper disposal of the harmful chemicals, and so they just threw the chemicals into a ditch. Over time the chemicals entered the water supply and caused the death of many children in a nearby town. Money should not be an issue when taking care of our surroundings. Our decisions do not only affect us personally, but as the company found out, can have a fateful affect on our surroundings. Sometimes the opportunity arises where it is much easier and convenient to just throw out garbage, but is there something more to not doing it than being fined? Hopefully there is a belief that our actions can harm others and so we do not do it for that reason. Money cannot bring back the children who died as a result of the company�s self interest. We too must be aware of how we affect our society, and hopefully we will make sure we always have a positive affect that helps as opposed to harm.