Undercover San Francisco narcotics cops Sean Kane (Norris) and Dave Pierce (Terry Kiser) head into a dark alley to meet up with an informant named Tony Montoya (Mel Novak), who promises to break their big investigation wide open, by providing the name of the oriental drug ringleader. Minutes later Pierce is dead, after having been shot, hit by a car, and burned. Kane gets into trouble with his boss, Captain Stevens (Roundtree), for sending one of the killers flying out a third-story window to his death in view of the public. Rather than face discipline, and told to keep his distance by his superiors, Kane decides to quit the force, and sets out to exact vengeance.