Hank Macklan is Chicago's most reliable, disciplined, and demanding prohibition bootlegger. Working with George Moran of the North Side, Hank is a tough boss, who leads his crews through a crime academy teaching them survival tactics and how, to succeed in the dangerous liquor business.
Learning from the mistakes of his gangster father, Hank insists each man prepare an exit strategy to be ready to leave the miserable business with a moment's notice. Like ghosts working in the darkest hours, traveling vacant streets, his men move freight trucks into the heart of the city. Beneath the cargo tarps, inside wooden crates, amber-colored bottles rattle along in wait, while the drivers each pray not to need the machine guns at ready on the seat beside them.
Business was good, but devastating attacks were becoming more common, like someone knew their every move even before it was made. To make matters worse, Hank has more to worry about more than thieves stealing loads. At the wrong place and time, he tangles with the Murder Twins, a pair of notorious assassins responsible for killing a clerk during a payroll robbery gone bad. As a witness to their crime, Hank finds, himself on top of the list for elimination. Buying their way out of prison, the Twins begin the hunt for Hank.
As Al Capone threatens to take over all of Chicago, Hank emerges as the most important asset for the North Side Gang. George Moran knows Hank is a better leader and the key to success. To save his man, George sends Hank out of the city on a train headed to the wilds of northern Minnesota. While taking refuge there, Hank discovers truths about what's at stake back in Chicago.
The death trap's spring winds even tighter as Hank returns to the city on a mission and starts to takes back what rightfully, belongs to the North Side.
Whiskey was important to Hank Macklan, though he rarely drank it. Providing it to the people of Chicago was his business. His eyes lacked the greed of most men at this time. His were, filled with an intensity, a determination to survive.
