Faced with an election year, Captain John Sullivan (Ed Lauter) faces enormous pressure to fix the city of Venice’s crime problem. To help him with this he enlists the help of highly decorated Sgt. Frank Mills (Randall Batinkoff) who comes up with the idea of using cadets from the police academy, who are not bound by "police codes" to fight an unconventional battle between rival gangs. As this high octane thriller heats up, it becomes harder to tell who is playing for which team.