The Great War ended six years ago. The soldiers came back changed. Industry boomed but the money went upward. The streets smell of coal smoke and river mud.

St. Denis is a sprawling industrial port city where organized crime, class warfare, bootleg whiskey, and political corruption define daily life. The gap between rich and poor is a canyon. Prohibition means liquor is outlawed but widely poured. The law is powerful enough to be feared — and corrupt enough to be bought.

Three forces exist in permanent tension: criminal organizations fighting for territory, law enforcement that can be bought, and ordinary people trying to make a life in a city that doesn’t play fair.