McQ

A man drives around Seattle before dawn and shoots two police officers on duty. He cleans up at a luncheonette, still with a visible police badge on his belt. When a car pulls up, he hands the driver a satchel containing his gun, and the driver shoots him in the back as he walks away.

Detective Lieutenant Lon 'McQ' McHugh is awakened by news that his longtime partner Boyle and two other officers have been shot. While rushing to the precinct, he notices someone trying to steal his 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. A bullet is fired at him; he shoots back and kills the assailant, realizing the killer is a professional hitman.

Boyle is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center. McQ briefly visits Boyle's wife Lois at the hospital. The case expands for McQ as friends and colleagues worry for Boyle.

At the police station, Captain Kosterman theorizes that counterculture militants shot the officers. McQ suspects Manny Santiago, a narcotics dealer, is responsible. He begins tailing Santiago despite Kosterman’s warning to stay off the case.

After learning Boyle has died, McQ tails Santiago into a men’s room and beats him viciously. The brutal assault marks a turning point in McQ’s approach to justice. The incident strains his standing with the department and colleagues.

Threatened with desk duty, McQ resigns from the force. He partners with private investigator Pinky Farrow and reaches out to informants Rosey and Myra. Together they begin pursuing leads on the missing drugs.

McQ learns Santiago intends to steal drugs from the police before they can be destroyed. The State Attorney General's office moves the drugs to be destroyed, and Santiago's team disguises themselves as laundry workers to steal them. McQ pursues the thieves but loses them when he tails an identical laundry truck.

Kosterman confiscates McQ's revolver. He buys a pistol and borrows a MAC-10 from his usual gun store. The weapon shift underscores the growing power struggle between them.

McQ breaks into Santiago's office and is confronted by the drug dealer. Santiago reveals that corrupt officers replaced the drugs with powdered sugar before the theft. He repays McQ for the earlier beating with a calculated confrontation.

Rosey and Myra hint that Boyle may have been dirty. Myra is killed after McQ leaves her. In a subsequent pursuit, McQ is trapped in an alley between two semi-trucks, and his car is crushed, a non-lethal blow that intensifies the case.

McQ checks his car at the impound lot and finds dust from the missing drugs inside. Kosterman surrounds the lot with officers, but McQ manages to escape. The net of corruption tightens around him as the case unfolds.

McQ visits Lois, who is leaving to visit her parents, and deduces she double-crossed Boyle. He finds the drugs concealed in Lois’ suitcase and realizes she has been guiding the pursuit. He notices they are being followed and directs Lois toward a nearby beach.

A shootout erupts on the beach as Santiago’s men close in. McQ uses his MAC-10 to kill them, and Lois is arrested in the ensuing chaos. The pursuit culminates in a decisive confrontation by the water.

Kosterman returns McQ’s badge, signaling a restoration of his standing. The two share a drink at a bar as the case winds down and McQ contemplates the toll of the pursuit.