Struggling to work with a crew that refuses to take her seriously, detective superintendent Harriet Martens is surprised when her superiors place her in charge of a major investigation, which proves difficult in the wake of peer scorn. Harriet Martens, named 'the Hard Detective' by the media because of her unrelenting opposition to every sort of evil-doing, has been secretly summoned to London to investigate corruption in the elite Maximum Crimes Squad, when she suddenly finds herself under fire. Not only is she opposed by the head of the Squad, the popular, macho cop known as the Boxer, but she is menaced by mysterious figures from its current target, a worldwide Colombian smuggling network. Then she becomes a target for yet another elite - the Press. Is Harriet enough of an elite figure herself to withstand the fire?