Marty Mackenzie is an unsuccessful stage actor who takes an interest in private investigating. He takes a job working with Jack Potter, a crusty private eye. They both take a case in Beaver Ridge, a seedy small town where a murder is being planned against a rich gravel pit owner. Marty realizes that private investigating is not as it seemed to be.

A man and a woman are on the run from gangsters whom he has stolen $12.5 million. When the gangsters show up, he takes them supposedly to where the money is hidden but instead leads them into a trap at a backwoods crystal-meth factory. The gangsters and the drug dealers start a shoot-out for unknown reasons and both go gunning for Belushi. Meanwhile an unscrupulous cop is secretly having an affair with the girl friend and planning to make off with the money.