In the 1970s, in the black district of Harlem, Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) was the driver of the gangster Johnson. After Johnson's sudden death, Frank made full use of this hard-won opportunity, reorganized all the power distribution in the underground world, successfully took over the boss's business, and controlled the drug trade. During this period, he traveled to the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia to smuggle high-purity heroin, organized his family brothers, and assembled a group of men who worked for him. A dark force was rising. On the other hand, policeman Richie Roberts (Russel Crowe) had a broken family and was incompatible with mainstream society. He wandered the streets all day long like a slovenly ghost. He slowly became aware of the turmoil in the drug circle and launched a secret investigation. As the investigation deepened, the distance between Roberts and Lucas became shorter and shorter. Two men with similar temperaments and mutual respect inevitably had a head-on confrontation...