When detective Ed Cowley moved from his smallmid-western town to Chicago and joined the metropolitan police force, he wondered if he had bittenoff more than he could chew.

Initially unable to land a job as detective, he took the position of beat-cop and was paired up with an aging, hard-nosed veteran. On the rundown streets of the lower west side of Chicago, he learned quickly that enforcing the law can be a harsh and sometimes violent endeavor.

After his partner was injured on the job, he was promoted back to detective, where he struggled to find a balance between the brutal and sometimes out-of-control methods used on the streets, and the slow and often frustrating procedures of detective work.