Washington, D.C. homicide detective Tommy Baker is called "hillbilly" because he grew up in West Virginia and still talks with a twang. But he gets along well with his smooth, hip, African American partner, Les Slaney, until they are assigned an unusual murder case. A young African American woman has been brutally killed in an expensive apartment building not far from the White House. The department wants such a high-profile case closed quickly, but as Tommy and Les comb through the crime scene and interview the victim's co-workers at a small research firm, the two veteran detectives come to very different conclusions about the motive for the crime. Les is firmly convinced it is a racist hate crime tied to the woman's roots in Alabama while Tommy suspects the woman's boyfriend, a politically connected African American lawyer. Because of their disagreement, politics get involved, and eventually the investigation unearths horrendous crimes and produces legal complications that outrage the entire city and forever change the lives of both Tommy and Les.