Rookie FBI agents Paige Van Doren and Todd Stevens are assigned to the Richmond, Virginia branch. Van Doren is overly eager with a strong moral center and a deep sense of purpose. Stevens is fast and smooth — one who's willing to take shortcuts. Their new boss is Special Agent in Charge Lisa Cohen, a tough, no-nonsense leader. The branch is rocked by the violent death of Agent Bert Somers Ð the first such tragedy for most in this group. Agents Amiel MacArthur who was with Agent Somers when he was killed, grieve his loss tremendously, as does Agent Jennifer Sampson, who is a law enforcement officer by day; wife and mother of two by night.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Jonah Malloy, the local crime boss who runs his organization with an efficiency usually exhibited by much more legitimate businesses, meets with his team of henchmen. Donovan Stubbin is one of Malloy's chief lieutenants. They, too, are rocked by the shootout that killed the FBI agent as well as one of their own men

Malloy and Agent Cohen both try to intercept the same shipment of illicit drugs from Colombia, and Malloy kidnaps a 10-year-old child as collateral for a debt.

The FBI is investigating Judge Clyde Parker, who uses the bench as his own sexual playground. He targets young female defendants who are in danger of losing their children and pressures the vulnerable women into having sex with him as a price for custody of their kids. Van Doren goes undercover to catch him in the act. Meanwhile, Malloy suspects that one of his men is withholding information, so he orders another one of his guys to send a message — a painful one.

Todd investigates a senator who may have taken part in a lynching fifty years ago. Meanwhile, a hooker wants Roy to kill her father, and Malloy maneuvers to take over a local Richmond baseball team.