A serial killer is stalking the streets of North Philly. All of his victims are black. If the police do not stop these killings quickly, the entire city may erupt. Roger Work and his Assistant, Malik Farmer, in attempting to help a budding basketball star clear his good name of allegations of point shaving, stumble across a connection between the killings and the alleged point shaving scandal. In order to get to the bottom of things, Roger turns to an unexpected ally, Don Giovanni Castaldo, the head of a South Philly organized crime family. As usual, things are not as they appear. While beauty is only skin deep, ugly is to the bone.