A black college student gets murdered in the city of New York. It seems to be a racially motivated case and police detective John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) together with his partner Carmen Velez (Vanessa L. Williams) are put on the case. The killer, Walter Wade Jr. (Christian Bale), immediately flees the country in order to avoid standing trial. John and Carmen meanwhile are trying to find the only witness of the crime, a waitress, who happened to be on break while the murder happened. But not only Shaft and Carmen are looking for the waitress, Walter Jr. and Walter Sr. are doing the same, but for different reasons. They want the only witness to be dead.