Homicide Detective Caleb Barnes (Stephen Baldwin) had always been able to maintain a professional distance between his personal life and the numbing horror of his work. However, since the accidental death of his young son, he has immersed himself in the grisly details of the cases he investigates. A series of murders in Salt Lake City draws his attention and he uncovers a web of murder and deceit.

Warren Beatty's adaptation of the detective comic strip displays a big-screen comic book look of its own. In a 1930s American city, Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) takes a stranglehold on all underworld activities, disposing of his main rival Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino) and nabbing his girlfriend Breathless Mahoney (Madonna). Dick Tracy (Beatty) is entrusted with the task of cleaning up the city, but problems on the home front, with the adoption of a young orphan, and the seductive come-ons of Breathless threaten to ruffle his composure.