In early-1970s Las Vegas, Sam "Ace" Rothstein gets tapped by his bosses to head the Tangiers Casino. At first, he's a great success in the job, but over the years, problems with his loose-cannon enforcer Nicky Santoro, his ex-hustler wife Ginger, her con-artist ex Lester Diamond and a handful of corrupt politicians put Sam in ever-increasing danger.

Police are stymied when a serial killer begins hacking up nude models all over L.A. In desperation, they hire sexy ex-policewoman Holly Jacobsen to do a little undercover work. At first her boyfriend Bobby Colter, also a cop, agrees to the plan, but when Holly moves from nude modeling to topless dancing to peep-show shower dancing, he begins getting a little possessive. Things get dicey when the killer, a transvestite who by now is totally obsessed with Holly, decides to make his move.

Two young exotic dancers think they're about to get their big break in show business when they land a job in the hottest strip bar in town. However, their excitement soon turns to terror when they wind up as pawns in a savage and brutal international white slavery ring. It's up to their boyfriends to save them, except one of them is running the whole operation.

Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But, they like each other's company—and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.

Charlie and his troublesome cousin Paulie decide to steal $150000 in order to back a "sure thing" race horse that Paulie has inside information on. The aftermath of the robbery gets them into serious trouble with the local Mafia boss and the corrupt New York City police department.