When the brother of a cop is killed along with the mobster he was working for, the young officer is assigned to work undercover as a bookie to find out who ordered the hit. Stone, who is ordered to tell no one else about the man's assignment. is concerned that the officer is too concerned with revenge to handle the job effectively.

A terminally ill circus rigger is killed in his hospital bed by someone made up as a clown. At first, the detectives suspect the victim's brother may have done it as a mercy killing, but when the brother is murdered as well, suspicion shifts to the nephew of the two men.