When the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman, Milford Prince, is murdered in Harlem during the '77 blackout, the Department of Justice dispatches intelligence special agent Emmy Veronica Edmonds (Code Name Nightingale) to investigate.

During her inquisition, Nightingale discovers that Milford was heavily involved with a New York gangster known only as "The Man". Quickly, Nightingale discovers that this enigmatic hood is more than a common thug.

"The Man" is code name for a Russian spy who is deeply embedded in the American political system, and Nightingale believes that Milford was killed because he was about to expose the spy's identity.

To prove her theory, Nightingale searches the drug-ridden Harlem Streets, where Milford was killed, and follows dirty money to politicians and international entities who will stop at nothing to keep power and their secrets safe, and when Nightingale finally catches up to "The Man", she may not live to tell who he is.