The Haas family murders left a scar on the community nothing can erase, but everyone agrees that convicting the killer, Karl Dahl, is a start. Only Judge Carey Moore seems to be standing in the way. When an unknown assailant attacks Judge Moore in a parking garage, two of Minneapolis's top cops, Detective Sam Kovac and his wisecracking partner, Nikki Liska, are called upon to solve the crime and keep the judge from further harm. Neither one wants to be on this case, but when Karl Dahl escapes from custody, everything changes, and a seemingly straightforward case cartwheels out of control.