Deeply discouraged as an only child with dysfunctional parents, especially of his disillusionment of motherhood, Jerry Dunn carries emotional baggage with him as he later joins the Marines. Though he distinguishes himself in battle he is only further disillusioned by the typical self seeking actions of his superiors. His already damaged psyche takes a further hit after his discharge. He joins the Memphis Police Force where he again rises quickly in achievement, and escalates to Homicide Detective, only to find that nothing is different, only proof that men everywhere are full of dishonesty and hypocrisy. A moniker of "Dirty Jerry," that he would not have chosen for himself, was attached to him by the press as a result of his heroics under fire. His search for something that was true and honorable, however, seemed to escape him at all turns and made him even bitterer. Suddenly and mysteriously, he finds himself embroiled in an extremely complicated and perverse murder case where he is astonishingly accused of the crime; a crime where nothing seems to fit proper Police procedure. The network of evil extends in many directions and threatens to engulf him along with many others. Just when he is at his peak of bitter cynicism, he sees a ray of sunshine in truth and integrity only to have it taken away, then returned and then taken away again in a shattering experience of an emotional and bizarre turn of events. The single ray of hope that he has looked for all his life, seems illusive at best. But may hinge on a very strange and conflicting set of heart rending circumstances, going against everything he has learned in his early life.