At it's most basic, it is the substitution pf a flat 2 dominant seventh
in place of a five dominant in a cadence:
i.e. dmi7/ Db7 C
for:
dmi7/G7 /C
D flat being a tritone root away from the dominant root G..
there are many other uses for this sequence, but they require
more elaborate explanation
get Mark Levines "Jazz Theory " ..all will become clear