A prostitute named Jackie pays an office visit to her client, a dentist, and police detectives Michael Keneely and Patrick Farrel blackmail the man into helping them bust her. Later, Keneely goes to Jackie’s apartment, claiming to be the doctor’s friend, but she suspects him of being a cop and is vague about her services. However, she takes him to her bedroom, where he arrests her and demands her “trick book.” Back at the police station, Keneely discovers the names of several fellow officers in Jackie’s book and the partners are called into Sgt. Kenefick’s office. Kenefick received a tip that Keneely arrested Jackie by entrapment and the detectives have no evidence to uphold a conviction. Frustrated by the partners’ exploits, Kenefick reassigns them to bust a gay bar that stays open after hours. That night, Keneely and Farrel go to the bar undercover as lovers, but when a man tries to cut in on their dance, a fight ensues. Police officers arrive to arrest the patrons as Keneely nurses a bite on his leg. When Keneely tries to retrieve Jackie’s book back at the station, he is given a decoy with blank pages. Sometime later in court, Mr. Crosby, a lawyer, defends the drag queens who were arrested at the bar and claims the police violated their civil rights, but the judge is unsympathetic. Afterwards, Jackie’s lawyer, Mr. Weldman, questions Keneely about her arrest, and when the detective reluctantly admits she did not verbally agree to exchange sex for money, the case is dismissed. Later, Keneely attempts to bust a prostitution ring in a pornographic bookstore. After coaxing the masseuse into offering sex, Keneely arrests her and accuses the salesclerk, Marvin, of dealing heroin. When Marvin calls his boss, Carl Rizzo, Keneely hits him with the telephone receiver and threatens to bring down their operation. Even though Keneely and Farrel are unable to get a search warrant from Sgt. Kenefick, they break into an apartment they believe is connected with Rizzo. After finding heroine in a baby powder container, they fire their guns at three dealers and chase the men outside. The dealers return fire in a busy marketplace and a woman is shot. As the crowd crouches down, Keneely kills one of the men while the others take a woman hostage and escape. The officers chase them to an apartment building and call for backup. Keneely and Farrel kill another felon but the officers outside fail to apprehend the remaining dealer. Back at the police station, Kenefick reprimands the partners for their unauthorized bust and reports that Mr. Weldman bailed Marvin and the prostitute out not long after their arrest. Later, Keneely and Farrel commiserate that Rizzo is both the city’s criminal kingpin and a force of corruption in the police department. They track Rizzo down at a boxing gym and threaten to defeat him. That evening, Keneely and Farrel go to Rizzo’s strip club and scare away patrons by announcing they are from the vice squad. They follow Rizzo home and fall asleep in their car. At a boxing match, the partners see Rizzo with the escaped drug dealer and when they give Rizzo another warning, he ridicules them. Outside, Keneely negotiates with a prostitute, but when he returns to her apartment, he is beaten by one of Rizzo’s men. Returning to the car, Keneely finds Farrel bloody and unconscious. Sgt. Kenefick splits the partners up and claims that his superiors are pressuring him to fire them. He warns them to stop pursuing Rizzo. However, the detectives spend their weekend back on the case and follow Rizzo on his family outings. At Rizzo’s birthday celebration, Keneely and Farrel set fire to his car. The following day, an ambulance arrives at Rizzo’s mansion. Although the detectives are told Rizzo had a heart attack, they recall that Rizzo used his heart condition as an alibi on the night of his last drug connection and race to the hospital. From the waiting room, the detectives observe a sequence of flower deliveries to Rizzo’s room and Farrel comments that visitors leave with the potted plants. He calls the hospital florist and discovers they have not sent any orders to Rizzo. Keneely and Farrel break into Rizzo’s room and find heroine in the flowerpots, but Rizzo’s bouncer holds a nurse at gunpoint and the men flee the hospital in a stolen ambulance. Keneely and Farrel give chase through the streets of downtown Los Angeles in another ambulance and after the vehicles crash, they hold Rizzo at gunpoint. Rizzo goads Keneely, claiming that he’ll soon be back in action.