A tough town in a tough time, Detroit during World War II was where the United States furiously tried to outmanufacture the Germans and Japanese. Industry imported workers to replace men gone to war—with Southern whites and blacks working side by side for the first time. Through this tense, troubled world cuts a killer, a self-appointed soldier savaging ordinary people, the defenseless. Lieutenant Zagreb's most important job is to keep the city from exploding, but his job doesn't stop there. He must catch a mad killer with a cop roster of 4-Fs and near-retirees, and he has to save his own soul. But, he can't succeed at all three.