Based on Don Winslow's novel "The Cartel", that tells the story of a corrupt detective in the NYPD's most elite crime-fighting unit. Sgt. Denny Malone (Matt Damon) is forced to choose between his family, his partners and his life. To stop the city's long-simmering racial tensions from exploding, he must reconcile the idealistic guardian he still views himself to be with the corrupt cop he's become.

He then finds himself attacked on all sides: Harlem drug gangs, the mob he's in bed with, the brother cops he's about to destroy, the mayor's office who fears what he knows and who he can implicate, the relentless federal investigators who want to put him behind bars but, most of all, his own demons.