Plot: The Tierney family is comprised of many men who work for the NYPD: Francis Tierney Sr. is an Assistant Chief, his oldest son "Franny" Tierney Jr. is the commanding officer of the 31st Precinct in Washington Heights, his younger son Ray Tierney is a detective who moved to what is seen as a cushy desk job in Missing Persons after an "incident" in the field a few years ago, and his son-in-law Jimmy Egan is a sergeant, a beat cop out of Franny's precinct. They are going through some family issues either affecting or having been affected by their police work. Francis drinks to excess. Franny's wife Abby suffers from cancer, supporting her and their children being Franny's unspoken first priority. And Ray is at the tail end of a divorce from Tasha, as she saw the marriage and the police work not being compatible. A 911 call reporting shots fired in the neighborhood leads to four of Franny's officers being shot to death. Despite Ray not having recovered emotionally from the incident that led to him taking that desk job, Francis pressures Ray into applying for the task force that would be investigating the officers' deaths, this job which Francis sees as a first step in Ray regaining his and thus the family's name in getting a more substantial job within the force. As Ray proceeds with the investigation, he comes across some information which has the potential to tear the family apart as the truth may not jive with the outlook of the four Tierney men, each who works on different motivations, some of those motivations being self-preservation especially as it relates to the unspoken brotherhood both of being family members and cops.
Alternative Plot: Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) comes from a family full of New York cops, including his father (Jon Voight), brother Francis (Noah Emmerich) and bad-boy brother-in-law Jimmy (Colin Farrell). When a failed drug bust results in the deaths of four of Francis' men, the Tierney patriarch pulls Ray into leading the investigation. But Jimmy launches his own investigation, compromising Ray's team. Jimmy's actions soon catch Ray between duty as a police officer and loyalty to his family.
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