1940's Detroit: the war effort is in full swing and racial tensions are running high. When a vivacious white heiress is murdered in the black part of town, the city threatens to erupt into mob violence, bringing the factories to a grinding halt and imperiling Allied forces around the world.

Newly minted Detective Pete Caudill is charged with covering up the crime in the interests of civic peace and finding some kind of justice for the dead girl. Odds are the girl was killed by her black boyfriend, but some whisper of an Axis plot to hamper America's war effort. Or is Detroit's shadowy political machine manipulating events to its own ruthless ends? As he delves deeper, Caudill soon learns the hard way that friends are rarely what they seem, family ties are often deceptive, and sometimes the bravest thing a man can do is think for himself.