Sgt. Terence McDonagh of the New Orleans PD has been promoted to lieutenant, thanks to an act of bravery just after Hurricane Katrina. He jumped into the murky, rising waters of a flooded jail to save a prisoner, injured his back in the process, and now he's addicted to painkillers. That's OK, though, because McDonagh is also addicted to every drug on the planet, and helps himself by raiding the evidence room after drug busts. The slaughter of a Senegalese family--parents, grandmother, and two young children--lands in his lap. The prime suspect is drug dealer Big Fate, who causes Big Fear in the locals, so it's going to be almost impossible to find anyone to connect him to the crime. What with his constant search for drugs, his high-maintenance call girl girlfriend, and a father who's drinking himself to death, is it any wonder the Lieutenant's gone bad?