In the late 1940s in Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins (Denzel Washington) is an unemployed Black World War II veteran facing limited job opportunities. At a bar, Easy encounters Dewitt Albright (Tom Sizemore), a enigmatic white man seeking someone to look into the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals), whom he believes is concealing herself in one of the city’s black jazz clubs. In need of financial support and struggling with house payments, Easy accepts the job, only to quickly realize he is in over his head.