It's 1947 and former Marine Joe Teague - now a policeman with the notoriously corrupt Los Angeles Police Department gets an interesting offer. Nightclub comedian Hecky Nash is blackmailing someone high up in the mob - he won't give Joe a name - and he offers him $1000 to act as his bodyguard while he collects the money and hands over the incriminating information. Teague tells his superiors and the ambitious Captain William Parker sees an opportunity to nab a big-time mobster which will do all of their careers some good. Joe accompanies Hecky to the exchange but Joe has something else in mind and nothing is as straightforward as it appears.