Orin Boyd (STEVEN SEAGAL) is a renegade Detroit cop whose prickly attitude and illegal means of enforcing the law have him demoted to the worst precinct in the city, despite having just saved the life of the Vice President of the United States. His new captain, Annette Mulcahy (JILL HENNESSY), knows of his reputation and lays down the law of her operation for him, going so far as to sending him to an anger management class where he meets Henry Wayne (TOM ARNOLD), the high-strung host of a local TV talk show.
Despite such measures, they don't stymie his inquisitive cop nature and it's not long before he comes across some sort of crime involving local gangster Latrell Walker (DMX) and his fast-talking sidekick, T.K. (ANTHONY ANDERSON) doing an illegal deal with a man by the name of Montini (DAVID VADIM). After a brief fight, Orin discovers that Montini has been working undercover trying to nab Walker, a point that doesn't sit well with the detective's muscle-bound partner, Useldinger (MATTHEW G TAYLOR).
Not all of the cops give Orin a hard time, however, as Strutt (MICHAEL JAI WHITE) steps in to cool things down and local officer George Clarke (ISAIAH WASHINGTON) is soon assigned as his amiable partner. After uncovering the theft of fifty kilos of heroin, Orin and George begin focusing their investigatory efforts on Latrell and T.K., with Orin asking Henry to do some digging on Latrell's background.
As he keeps digging and receives more information about the gangster, Orin soon uncovers a conspiracy of corruption within the force, a discovery that soon leads to imminent danger and surprising revelations that prove that things aren't always what they seem.