Two desperate men find themselves unwitting pawns in an ancient ritual.

Coleman Silk is a worldly and admired professor who loses his job after unwittingly making a racial slur. To clear his name, Silk writes a book about the events with his friend and colleague Nathan Zuckerman, who in the process discovers a dark secret Silk has hidden his whole life. All the while, Silk engages in an affair with Faunia Farley, a younger woman whose tormented past threatens to unravel the layers of deception Silk has constructed.

A loser of a crook and his wife strike it rich when a botched bank job's cover business becomes a spectacular success.

A young reformed gambler must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks.

The career and personal life of writer Lee are at a standstill, so he divorces his bashful wife, Robin, and dives into a new job as an entertainment journalist. His assignments take him to the swankiest corners of Manhattan, but as he jumps from one lavish party to another and engages in numerous empty romances, he starts to doubt the worth of his work. Meanwhile, top TV producer Tony falls for Robin and introduces her to the world of celebrity.

Sully is a rascally ne'er-do-well approaching retirement age. While he is pressing a worker's compensation suit for a bad knee, he secretly works for his nemesis, Carl, and flirts with Carl's young wife Toby. Sully's long- forgotten son and family have moved back to town, so Sully faces unfamiliar family responsibilities. Meanwhile, Sully's landlady's banker son plots to push through a new development and evict Sully from his mother's life.

Chicago policeman Terry McCain is determined to put away mobster Sal DiMarco, who always gets acquitted on technicalities. While monitoring a drug sale, a shootout ensues, and one of Terry's fellow officers gets away with $3 million of Sal's money. Suspecting Terry took the cash, the mobster sends his men to kill Terry's brother, Dylan, and partner, Frankie Hawkins. Furious, Terry sets out to take his revenge by any means necessary.

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.