One seemingly routine morning, a little boy is shot dead in the cross fire between a drug dealer and a narcotics detective in a predominantly black New York City neighborhood. John Pappas, the idealistic mayor of the city, cleverly prevents a race riot, and everything seems to be OK. However, things get complicated again when Kevin Calhoun, Pappas's loyal chief of staff, who is even more idealistic than Pappas himself, begins to wonder why the drug dealer, who just happens to be the son of the local Mafia boss, was out on the streets in the first place after receiving a sentence of five year's probation for a conviction which would normally warrant a 10 to 20-year jail term. Further complicating matters is Marybeth Cogan who represents the widow of the narcotics detective. She is trying to find out why the pension for the cop is being withheld and she brings Calhoun deeper into a scandal that makes him take a second look at what he once took for granted.

The interior scenes of New York's City Hall actually were filmed inside a mansion in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Kevin Calhoun:
You keep looking at that thing as if it weren't kosher.


Abe Goodman:
A cut of meat is kosher. A piece of fish, savory foods, and all kinds of dang things are kosher, but a probation report is not kosher. A probation report is merely a probation report.


Kevin Calhoun:
I am a good Louisiana lapsed Catholic, Abe, so just don't talk to me about kosher, just give it to me straight. What's wrong with this report?


Abe Goodman:
It's too kosher.

[pause]


Kevin Calhoun:
Translate that for me.


Abe Goodman:
Uhhhhh, the virgin looks pregnant to me. - Look, see, the supervisor signed this.


Kevin Calhoun:
So what?


Abe Goodman:
That's a lot of weight for a 4C. So what happened to the original little probation officer? Where is his signature?

Continuity: When Kevin Calhoun and Marybeth Cogan are out on the boat, shots from the inside seem to indicate that the water is choppy, but exterior shots show calm water.

from the musical play "South Pacific"
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II