John Shaft is a Black private detective working in downtown New York City. He learns the hard way that Bumpy Jonas, a Harlem-based Black mobster, wants to hire him to locate his daughter, Marcy Jonas, whom Bumpy claims was kidnapped, there being no ransom note. All Bumpy can tell Shaft is that he believes that a mid-level Harlem Black thug named Ben Buford, who is known now to be lying low, is either behind the kidnapping or knows something about it. Because of his criminal history, Bumpy can't go to the police for their help, and he chooses Shaft because he has his hands on the pulse of both the Black and the white communities in inner-city New York. Despite not liking the way that Bumpy contacted him, Shaft agrees to the job in part because he can see that Bumpy has true concern for his daughter, a probable innocent in the matter. Even before having the conversation with Bumpy, Shaft is contacted by NYPD Lieutenant Vic Androzzi--with whom he has a love/hate relationship--who wants Shaft to tell him what he knows about what's going on with Bumpy, if only to prepare for any potential bloodshed that might be happening down the pike. As Shaft knows Vic isn't being totally forthright with him, he must decide how much of what he knows he will divulge to Vic as the case progresses. As Shaft progresses with the case, following the only leads of Marcy's last-known whereabouts and trails to Buford's current hiding place, Shaft will learn why Bumpy believes Buford is involved. Ultimately, Shaft gets caught in the middle in a war of Bumpy's mob gang and the Italian Mafia. To keep himself safe while locating and rescuing Marcy, Shaft knows he needs more muscle, and he amasses such a gang to do what would be problematic less-than-legal actions.—Huggo