Black officer Michael Rhoades (Van Peebles) is secretly investigating a white supremacist group of cops, called the Phantoms, within the LAPD. Marine Corp vet and police rookie Keith DeBruler (Brolin) becomes Rhoades's new partner and his racial comments make him a likely initiate for the Phantoms. So can he be trusted to be Rhoades's inside man and help Michael expose the corruption within the ranks?