After Starsky shoots a 16-year-old armed robber, a crazed ex-con vows to kill uniformed policemen until Starsky resigns from the force.

Starsky and Hutch go undercover as Rafferty and O'Brien, Texas-based dealers looking to make a five-kilo heroin buy from drug kingpin Danner. Assisting them is Cheryl, a wide-eyed country girl and one of Danner's reluctant drug mules.