Detroit cop Axel Foley is watching the news on TV when the reporter tells a story that Axels friend, Beverly Hills police Captain Andrew Bogomil, has been shot by a tall woman. Axel heads out to Beverly Hills to visit Bogomil in the hospital, and this is where Axel is reunited with Bogomils daughter Jan Bogomil. Axel is also reunited with Detective Billy Rosewood and Sergeant John Taggart. Billy and Taggart decide to let Axel help them find the woman who tried to kill Bogomil, even though abusive police chief Harold Lutz has been deliberately trying to find a reason to fire Billy and Taggart. Axel, Billy, and Taggart soon discover that the alphabet robberies, a series of robberies that have been going on in the area, are masterminded by weapons kingpin Maxwell Dent, and Dent had sent his fiancee Karla Fry to try to kill Bogomil because Bogomil had been after Dent. With this information, Axel, Billy, and Taggart try to find Dent and Karla.