A shoot-out between a hero cop and a mobster connected drug dealer leaves a six-year-old black child dead on the tenement streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The killings launch a storm of controversy and the reverberations are felt immediately at City Hall.

Mayor John Pappas (Al Pacino) is a populist leader who has captured the hearts of the people the way Fiorello La Guardia once did, and now harbors ambitions for the White House. Kevin Calhoun (John Cusack) is the young Louisiana-born deputy mayor possessing a unique combination of high minded ideals and hard-nosed political savvy. Calhoun worships the mayor as a father figure and devotedly assists him with his day-to-day duties while implementing the plan to fulfill his presidential aspirations. Marybeth Cogan (Bridget Fonda) is a strong-willed lawyer for the detectives endowment association who seeks to preserve the good reputation of the slain officer and to protect the rights of his widow. Calhoun and Cogan conduct a suspenseful trip through the treacherous labyrinth of the city government — learning that there is more to this case than meets the eye — and by the time they reach their destination, nothing in City Hall will ever be the same.