Detective Harry Mason has rejoined the South African Police Service after a two-year leave of absence, and moved over to the specialised serious and violent crimes unit, headed by the tough and fiery veteran commander Superintendent Carl Blackie Swarts. Soon afterwards, Harry is assigned to investigate the slaying of a minor politician and his family, in a township west of Johannesburg. The case, at first seemingly unsolvable, is abruptly saved by an enigmatic grassroots anarchist whom Harry befriended during the apartheid riots of the 1980s, and soon the SVC unit is hot on the heels of one of the country's most secretive and violent vigilante groups, known as The Guardians.