During a routine drug arrest, a veteran police officer, Freddo Parisi, kills an young African-American man named Tommy Richardson, who may have been unarmed. Parisi is accused of planting a gun on the victim to justify the shooting. Moreover, Parisi has a similar incident already on his record. Richardson was a student at Princeton University who was well respected for his contributions to his community in terms of time, energy, and money. But the investigation reveals that he sold drugs to get the money.

The apparent suicide of a controversial bisexual artist, who died while engaging in an apparent act of auto-erotic strangulation, leads Detectives Greevey and Logan into the city's bondage/S&M subculture. The initial explanation for the artist/victim's position is that he was involved in a "performance art work." Further investigation reveals that, in fact, he was one of a sadomasochistic trio that included the head of the New York Department of Cultural Affairs and his "mistress," a wealthy socialite dominatrix who instigated and monitored the S&M scene that led to the artist's death.