Eddie Murphy plays fast-talking Detroit cop Axel Foley, whose regular assignments include tracking down cigarette thieves. When a friend is killed, he begins an unofficial investigation which leads him to Beverly Hills, where he runs into trouble with the straight-laced police force who disapprove of his anarchic methods. However, with the help of fellow cops Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggart (John Ashton), he tracks down the killers.