Disgraced ex-policeman Nick Starkey (Kevin Kline) is brought back to the force by his brother Frank (Harvey Keitel) to help find a serial killer loose in New York City. Unconventional and misunderstood, Nick figures out the killer's patterns while wooing both his own sister-in-law, Christine (Susan Sarandon), and the mayor's daughter Bernadette (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). The police arrest a suspect, but Nick thinks they have the wrong man, so he attempts to find the murderer on his own.