John Bell a Philadelphia lawyer has been recruited to work on a campaign to re-elect the incumbent mayor. He finds, almost at once, that he has become the eyes and ears of the real campaign manager, the old congressman from South Philadelphia, Bill Corcoran. Corcoran is shrewd, sagacious, experienced, and almost cynical in his approach to the personnel in the campaign. The party leaders meet in secret determined to dump the incumbent and replace him with a blue blood candidate. The coterie around Walsh who have styled themselves as "close personal friends of the Mayor" each has his own agenda and far down on the list for each is the re-election of the Mayor. Corcoran finds his way through the ambitions of "the friends" to put together an organization which will be capable of battling the "machine" of the Democratic Party. Corcoran levers Bell into the inner sanctum of the policy committee directing Walsh's campaign. He is met with hostility and stony silence from the "friends." Bell, because of Corcoran, moves to the forefront of the organization preparing the campaign for its forthcoming battle with machine democrats.This puts him direct conflict with Senator Joe one of the "friends" whose ultimate ambition is to lead the Democratic Party. Will Corcoran be able to combat the devious double-dealing of "the friends?" And at the same time marshal the forces to ensure an honest election and if he can, can the fractured party be put back together? Looming ahead after the primary election is the formidable Morey Stern, the youthful District Attorney of Philadelphia who is the Republican candidate for Mayor.