Captain Mary Jane O'Malley, a highly decorated Marine Corps officer and divorced mother of two, ends her ill-advised affair with a chauvinistic senior officer, Major Nelson Gray, after she discovers he is married. Gray begins a campaign of terror against his former lover, even taking her children out of school without her permission. When he breaks into her home and holds her at knifepoint, O'Malley shoots Gray. The local court rules the killing a justifiable homicide, but the military is a man's world, and O'Malley is brought up on charges of first degree murder by the Corps. Her only hope is her counsel, Captain Walker Randall, but first she'll have to convince Randall that she's innocent. Based on a true story.
 

Filming began in November 1999 in Toronto. In an interview about her role, Anne Heche revealed, ""It was so difficult to get into the head space of this woman. She's in the toughest branch of the military, stripped of all her individuality, and she refinds her female side in falling in love with this guy. But it was against the rules that she'd always abided by. It's a devastating love story." Heche was most challenged by the scene in which she kills her attacker and estranged lover played by Sam. The scene, shot over two days, was traumatic for her. She recalls, ""I hated it, and Sam hated it. People say sex scenes are awkward, but this was the hardest thing I did in this movie. There were blanks in the gun, and I knew it, but it was an ugly scenario."

The film has only been released in VHS format for the US & Canada. In September 2003 it was released on DVD in France under the title of "Code d'honneur".

Joe Amarante, New Haven Register:
"A gripping story with smart writing, casting and sharp acting, 'One Kill' rises above the genre of TV movie."

Stephen Oxman, Variety:
"'One Kill' demonstrates that even the most traditional telepic source material, executed with sensitivity and intelligence, can provide a show well worth watching. Based on actual events, there are plenty of tried-and-true formulas at work in this Showtime picture that so easily could have come off tired and false. But a subtle, nuanced teleplay by Shelley Evans, a startingly good supporting turn from Sam Shepard, and solid work by director Christopher Menaul and leads Anne Heche and Eric Stoltz help 'One Kill' stand out as a amll but memorably affecting film...  In what is probably Shepard's best work yet, Gray comes off as a man who has clamped down his emotions for most of his life, as a good military man and trained killer should."

Julie Salamon, NY Times:
Mr. Shepard has a craggy charisma that implies depth where there may not be any. You feel some sympathy for him, another middle-aged man unhinged by hot sex with a younger woman, even as his behavior becomes erratic and then dangerous toward Captain O'Malley."

Film critic Susan Granger:
"'One Kill' presents a true moral dilemma - one that viewers will find quite provocative. On the Granger Made-for-TV Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, 'One Kill' is an intelligent, stylish, suspenseful 7."

Eric Mink, NY Daily News:
"'One Kill' suffers, oddly enough, from too much on-screen talent."

The Radio Times:
"The star performances add lustre to what could have been a run-of-the-mill court-martial drill."

Bruce Fretts, Entertainment Weekly:
"Anne Heche proves her mettle yet again with a top-rank performance as a Marine Corps captain on trial for the murder of her superior officer/lover  played by an aptly craggy Sam Shepard. Eric Stoltz earns a demerit for his wimpy work as Heche's defense lawyer, but otherwise, this feminist spin on 'A Few Good Men' — crisply directed by Prime Suspect's Christopher Menaul — commands attention as a cracking good military courtroom drama."