"Officer Denny Rakestraw, "Negro Officers" Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith, and Sergeant McInnis have their hands full in an overcrowded and rapidly changing Atlanta. It's 1950 and color lines are shifting and racial tensions are simmering. Black families-including Smith's sister and brother-in-law-are moving into Rake's formerly all-white neighborhood, leading some residents to raise money to buy them out, while others advocate a more violent solution. When Rake's brother-in-law launches a scheme to rally the Ku Klux Klan to save their neighborhood, his efforts spiral out of control, forcing Rake to choose between loyalty to family or the law. As Boggs, Smith, and their all-black precinct contend with violent drug dealers fighting for turf in new territory, their personal dramas draw them closer to the fires that threaten to consume Atlanta once again.