In November 1946, Bucky and Lee are coerced into a boxing match which is being held to promote a proposed bond measure to increase the LAPD's budget. Bucky, outweighed and outclassed, initially tries to throw the fight, as his winnings would be enough to put his dementia-addled father into a good nursing home, but decides to win as that would get him a plainclothes job in the Warrants Division. He fails, but he gets the Warrants job anyway. Partnered with Lee, the two men quickly become friends. They work well together until an arrest goes wrong and they kill four men in a gunfight. Meanwhile, Kay becomes attracted to Bucky, telling him she doesn't sleep with Lee. He rebuffs her, despite a powerful attraction, because he sees her and Lee as a surrogate family.