When spoiled college kid Walter Wade kills a young black student, John Shaft makes the arrest. Walter skips bail and flees the country, and after two years of waiting, Shaft hauls him back into custody as Walter secretly returns to the States. But when Walter's wealthy father posts bail once again, Walter is back on the streets and looking to put Shaft in a body bag. So are two of Shaft's corrupt colleagues, Jack Roselli and Jimmy Grovitch, as well as a Dominican drug lord, Peoples Hernandez, who wants revenge on Shaft for humiliating him in the neighborhood he rules. For backup, Shaft has only his two closest pals: Carmen, a colleague on the police force; and his streetwise confidant, Rasaan. Meanwhile, Shaft has to track down the one murder witness, Diane Palmieri, who can put all of his enemies away for good even as the toughest killers in the city close in on him.

A black police detective, Shaft, is reunited with the trust fund kid who slipped on a rape rap and left for Europe some years before. Now Shaft must dig up another victim and protect her from the boy's wealthy father, who is with the mob.