Bernard Wilfred Downs, a Detective Inspector in the Queensland Police force preferred to be called Sarge by everyone. He was called "Young 'un" by his uncle; "Short Arse" by his mates when he was much younger. The latter was ironic as he was well over 185 cm and nearly 100 kg when he was still in secondary school. When he first graduated from police training he was sent to Melbourne, Victoria by his uncle to help his older cousin Francis, who somehow had become entangled in the gangland warfare that was ripping through the Melbourne underworld. Between the two of them they manage to avoid adding to the ever increasing numbers of dead and injured. But only just.