 Undercover cop Danny Vega has been working in the dark for 5 years trying to gain the trust of ice-cold ring leader Rafael "El Chino" Rodriguez, whom he has become fond of but not knowing that Rodriguez is fully aware of Vega s true identity. Det. Jeff Dougherty (Vega s boss, who s file isn t particularly clean) is been pushed by Rodriguez enemies to get him off the streets in 12 hours using Vega as an unlikely hired gun. I.A. Lt. Wasserman has a case against Vega about running a protection money collection scheme while he was an uniformed cop. Wasserman - who works for Rodriguez - uses it in order to push Vega to deliver Dougherty.