When respected judge Alfred McGuffin—an old friend of Jack Slate's father—is kidnapped by a citywide crime syndicate, Jack dives headlong into a labyrinthine conspiracy of betrayal and corruption. McGuffin is eventually murdered, and the trail leads to high-ranking Russian crime lord Blanchov, making the stakes personal: Blanchov orders Ruby, Jack's girlfriend, killed. Jack pursues him to the end, but the killing brings no satisfaction—Blanchov was just another replaceable piece of a much larger machine, the syndicate's files are still in enemy hands, and Jack has nothing left to come home to.