Malloy and Reed are called to the scene of an ambushed of two officers by a pair of black men. One officer is severely injured but tells them he believes he wounded one of the assailants. During a search Reed and Malloy find one of the assailants as he dies from his wounds in an alley. He is a member of a black militant group. At the hospital Reed sees a black friend, Kenneth James, and his family with whom he played football in school. They have to inform him it was his younger brother they found dead and later it is determined his older brother was the accomplice. The militant group accuses the police of murdering the younger James boy and Kenneth believes them even when Reed says it isn't true. When Kenneth confronts his older brother Cleotis, he learns the truth as Malloy and Reed arrest him.

The day starts with a robbery in progress by two men at a bar. Malloy is forced to shoot one of the men. The shift continues with Malloy warning a young woman in a bad neighborhood at a store to pick up food for her friends that she should be careful and to avoid the area in the future but she makes light of the issue. The pair handle a call at an apartment building about noise indicating a domestic dispute but the couple living there report no problems even though her face is severely injured. While back on patrol they notice two men helping the young woman with her car. When they check the men's car, they are wanted for kidnapping. With the aid of a helicopter patrol they are able to capture the men and rescue the woman. They close the shift with a return to the apartment complex where the mother asks for their help for her daughter and the men have to chase the husband through the parking lot as he tries to escape.