In Prohibition-era Chicago, federal crimefighter Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) arrives in town intent on destroying an organized crime syndicate run by Al Capone (Robert De Niro). Since the corrupt Chicago police department is on Capone’s payroll, Ness enlists a streetwise beat cop, Jimmy Malone (Sean Connery), a fresh academy cadet, George Stone (Andy Garcia), and a nerdy accountant, Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) in an unlikely effort to build a case against Capone on the charge of tax evasion. Capone repeatedly thwarts Ness, enforcing his will with brutal violence. Malone warns Ness that he must respond “the Chicago way,” with an escalation of Capone’s methods. Ness, an an idealistic and incorruptible family man, finds himself forced to adopt Capone’s morally questionable tactics in his efforts to take Capone down.