When professional thief McClain (Jim Brown) returns to Los Angeles, he meets up with old flame Gladys (Julie Harris) and hatches a scheme to rob a sports arena during a sold-out game. McClain rounds up a driver (Jack Klugman), a safecracker (Warren Oates), a sharpshooter (Donald Sutherland) and some muscle (Ernest Borgnine), and the group successfully pulls off the heist. Trouble arises, however, when a dirty cop (Gene Hackman) steals the money, and the gang thinks McClain is responsible.