Leo Vrinks (Auteuil) and Denis Klein (Depardieu) are at the head of two different departments of the Paris police force, located at Quai des Orfevres. Once close, they are no longer friends, mainly due to their differing work methods and Vrinks' wife, Camille. An audacious gang of robbers stage seven armed robberies throughout Paris leaving a bloody trail in their wake. After a year of terror, the Chief of Police orders that Vrinks and Klein bring the criminals to justice with a substantial boon to the man who brings them in... His job. As the competition between the two men hots up, the lines between right and wrong become blurred. Both men find themselves sinking into a hellish place not far removed from that of the criminals...