ACT 1: The issue starts with your stereotypical black cop talking to the reader and explaining how stories about Spider-Man vary from one cop to the other. The story switches to Detective Pratton who seems adamant about Spider-Man and his repeated "above the law" dealings with criminal. He recalls a particular experience where he and his partner, Detective Youlton, were called out to a Deli on 53rd, where there had been a standoff between some uniformed officers and Joey Damiani's boys. According to the dispatch, Spider-Man had cut in on the action and taken the bad guys out of the picture. When they had arrived at the Deli, they had found Joey and his boys stuck halfway up a streetlight or otherwise incapacitated, and one grateful victim, the Deli owner. Following standard procedures, they had isolated the subjects, and Detective Youlton had brought Joey out on the sidewalk to have a talk with him. Joey, however, knew the score when it came to Spider-Man and he had cleverly lied to Youlton and had alleged they were simply buying smokes when they were attacked by Spider-Man. Inside the Deli, Pratton had been busy trying to convince the owner to press charges. Fearing retribution from the Damiani's boys, the owner had decided to refrain from pressing charges, therefore they had to be released. This had not boded well with Detective Pratton who was mad with Spider-Man for getting involved and creating a mess out of everything. Since then, on a regular basis, Pratton has had to deal with criminals suing the City for violation of their civil rights and getting off on technicalities all because of Spider-Man's unwanted involvement. What's more, all this has given him several ulcers, which he can't get rid of and which he blames Spider-Man for.

ACT 2: The story switches over to a very attractive blonde who is not named but who is revealed to be the Assistant District Attorney. She recalls a story where a few years back when she was first made Assistant DA, a mandate had come down from the mayor's office that Spider-Man was to be brought to justice at all costs. Somebody in her division had come up with a rather clever idea, which was to use a giant spider-signal, "à la Batman", in the hopes Spider-Man would take the bait and come running, at which point, they would arrest him. Thirty-four detectives and police marksmen had waited and waited on the coolest night of the year, in a driving rainstorm, until four in the morning but Spider-Man didn't even come within ten miles. Consequently, the mayor had immediately tried to distance himself from his own directive, due to the poor results of this very pathetic attempt. A few days later, as she was about to get into her car in the precinct parking lot, Spider-Man had accosted her to talk to her about the spider-signal and how pissed he was about it. She had replied that she was feeling the heat from the mayor's office about him being present at the heist of the Second Federal Bank the previous month and that they simply wanted to ask him a few questions about it. He had replied that it was the Rhino who was responsible for the heist, not him. Although she hadn't been sure whether or not to believe him at first, she had realized that despite his reputation, he was quite charming and funny, so she had filed the mayor's directive "to catch Spider-Man at all cost" under "toilet" along with all of his other memos.

ACT 3: The story switches over to Commissioner MacDonald of the same precinct who recalls the events that led to the demise of his then good friend, Captain George Stacy. He explains how him and George graduated from the police academy together and how they made Detective together. He then goes on explaining how one day, him and George had come in on a fracas between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, who were going at it above the edge of an apartment building in a highly-populated area. They had cordoned off the streets below, as it was their job, except that some little kid had wandered too close to the action just as a pile of debris was coming down. George had seen this and, although he had managed to push the kid out of harm's way, he, on the other hand, had been crushed by the fallen debris. As fellow policemen had rushed towards George to get him out from underneath the rubble, Spider-Man had dropped down and had grabbed George in his arms. The policemen had screamed at him to put the dying man down and surrender but Spider-Man fled the scene with George in his arms before they were able to do anything about it. Hours later, the police had found George dead on top of an apartment building about five blocks from where they were; removed from the scene before he could get the medical attention he needed.

ACT 4: The story switches to the crime lab where a very attractive brunette explains how she is fascinated with Spider-Man. She explains how she managed to recover a sample of his webbing material, which she preserved in formaldehyde before it could deteriorate, with the hopes of determining its composition, perhaps even trace it back to the manufacturer. She adds that the chemical make-up of the webbing has traces of some very exotic plastics, polycarbons and even microfilaments of what appears to be a rubidium compound. She goes one explaining how the person who created that stuff is a scientific genius and how she recommended that a canvassing of chemical laboratory workers, doctors and very gifted students to try and establish some leads into who might be the manufacturer. However, this has yet to happen.

ACT 5: The story switches to the men's shower room where Officer Jovanowski recalls how is rookie partner, Officer Phillips, encountered Spider-Man a few weeks earlier. We are treated to a flashback of a battle between the Sandman and Spider-Man, somewhere in Manhattan, where Officer Phillips and his partner had been called out. During the battle, Spider-Man had landed right in front of Officer Phillips and the latter had told Spider-Man to surrender, to the displeasure of his partner, who thought he was kidding. The Sandman, who was still not incapacitated, had thrown a car in their direction and instinctively, Officer Phillips had started to shoot at the car, which was coming fast. Thankfully, Spider-Man had managed to stop the car inches in front of the two officers; Officer Phillips still shooting at the immobile car. The battle between the two foes had carried on away in the meantime, leaving a very disturbed Officer Phillips behind. Back in the shower room, all the other officers are now roaring in laughter at poor Officer Phillips. Phillips, however – good sport that he is – he just throws his towel at Jovanowski.

ACT 6: The story switches back to the black cop (only referred to as "Sarge") seen at the beginning of the issue who tells his story about Spider-Man. He explains how a few years back he was called out to some kind of disturbance out at the Brooklyn Bridge. When he arrived there, the place had already been crawling with onlookers and reporters, and all the traffic on the bridge was being slowed down by rubberneckers. As he had looked high up above the city, near the top of a bridge support, he had seen the most amazing thing he had ever seen: Spider-Man and the Green Goblin were going at it like a couple of maniacs. Immediately, Sarge had ordered his men to get the onlookers out of the line of fire. Back on the bridge, the inevitable had happened; Gwen Stacy was falling to her death. Sarge recalls how it all happened; how he looked up at the exact moment she began to fall. He explains how Spider-Man had tried to save her and how his attempt had been futile. Sarge knew she was dead, still he had rushed towards Spider-Man, who had brought her down at the end of a nearby pier, to give him a hand. When he had reached Spider-Man, the latter screamed at him and the other officers to stay back. At that moment, Sarge had realized that Spider-Man had tried to save the girl from falling and had failed. Sarge could tell that there was something tragic about him, that he was taking her death hard, really personal. Later that day, back at the precinct, Sarge, like all the other officers, had been told that the girl was the daughter of Captain George Stacy and that it was the second time Spider-Man was implicated in the death of a Stacy family member. Sarge remembers how they had to bring the boyfriend, Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spider-Man) down to the station for questioning. He recalls how distressed Peter was, how he looked like a man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sarge had approached him and had told him that he was at the scene when it all came down and that Spider-Man had done everything in his power to save the girl (i.e. Gwen Stacy). Peter had thanked him, while tears rolled down his face. Back in the present, Sarge explains how he has never been able to get that day out of his mind, how he always wondered if Gwen was somehow connected to Spider-Man or if she was simply an innocent bystander at the wrong place at the wrong time. Sarge's partner, a female black cop, approaches Sarge and asks him if he is telling that old Spider-Man story again. She adds that he has to let it go. Sarge turns towards us, the readers, and tells us that there are thousands of super-powered freaks and sinners and weirdos flying around in New York City but he adds that he is really glad that Spider-Man is on their side. The end.