In the projects. On the docks. In City Hall. In the schools. In the media. The places and faces have changed, but the game remains the same.

Each season of The Wire focuses on a different facet of the city of Baltimore. The drug trade, the port, the city government and bureaucracy, the school system, and the print news media.

Created by author and former police reporter David Simon; he describes the Wire as "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals, and how whether you're a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge [or] lawyer, you are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution you've committed to.