Jeffrey Cole (Omar Epps) is a recent graduate of the Cincinnati police academy who dreams of working undercover. Cole manages to get an undercover assignment the day of graduation and earns the praise of his superiors. Good at earning the trust of small-time drug dealers, Cole is given the task of taking down statewide crack dealer Dwayne Gittens (LL Cool J), an underworld boss so powerful that his nickname is "God". Gittens is known as a family man and a man of the people, contributing to his community and helping those in need. However, there is another side to him, a ruthless leader of a criminal empire who will torture or kill anyone without question. Gittens controls eighty percent of the drug traffic in Cincinnati, Ohio, controls many of his opponents through bribery or intimidation, and appears to be untouchable. Building up his skills and credentials as an effective undercover officer, Cole earns the praise and adoration from his superiors, and he is eventually assigned to undercover work in the case against Gittens.