Chicago police detective Dicky Cobb turns in some crooked cops and finds himself persona non grata in the department. He is reassigned as an investigator for assistant D.A. Tess Kaufman, partly due to the fact that she is deaf and he can sign. Tess works for District Attorney Arthur Gold, a slick opportunist. Dicky investigates her cases, with the frequent help of Detective Earl Gaddis, a chain-smoking cop who is the only one on the force Dicky still gets along with. Tess is assisted by her faithful translator, Ben Douglass. Her ex-husband, Bruce Kaufman, continues to make life unhappy for her by involving her in his insensitive schemes. Dicky is romantically involved first with Kay Lockman, a cop's daughter who runs a bar, and later with defense attorney Maggie Zombro, with whom he often conflicts in court.