Plot
Jackie Brown, a flight attendant, smuggles money from Mexico into the United States for Ordell Robbie, a gun runner in Los Angeles. When Beaumont Livingston—Ordell's bagman—is arrested, Ordell hires bail bondsman Max Cherry to bail him out. Ordell then lures Beaumont into the trunk of a car and murders him.
Acting on information Beaumont already provided, ATF agent Ray Nicolette and LAPD detective Mark Dargus intercept Jackie with Ordell's cash and a bag of cocaine, which Jackie didn't know was with the money. After Jackie is sent to jail, Ordell has Max pay her bail. Upon meeting Jackie, Max immediately becomes smitten. Jackie requests that Max takes her to a bar to get a drink, where Max reveals that Beaumont is dead. After Jackie arrives home, Ordell arrives at Jackie's apartment to kill her, but she pulls out a gun she stole from Max's glovebox. Jackie negotiates a deal with Ordell; she will pretend to help the authorities while smuggling in the remaining $550,000 of Ordell's money.
Ordell replaces Beaumont with Louis Gara, a criminal associate and former cellmate who was recently released from prison. Melanie Ralston, one of Ordell's mistresses, asks Louis to betray Ordell and take the money for themselves. Louis tells Ordell, but Ordell replies that he is not concerned about her, given that he knows that she is not to be trusted.
Unaware of the plan to smuggle in $550,000, Nicolette and Dargus devise a sting to catch Ordell during a transfer of $50,000. Jackie plans to keep the remaining $500,000 for herself. She recruits Max, offering him a 10% cut. During a test run, Jackie smuggles in $10,000, with Nicolette and Dargus aware, to swap with Sheronda, one of Ordell's girlfriends, at a shopping mall. After Jackie leaves, Max observes an unknown woman swap bags with Sheronda. He informs Jackie and she confronts Ordell, who reveals that he sent Simone Hawkins, another mule, to secure his money as a backup.
On the day of the transfer, Ordell discovers that Simone has left town with the $10,000. He reluctantly recruits Melanie to perform the swap instead. Jackie enters a dressing room in a department store to try on a suit. Although she told Nicolette that the exchange will take place in the food court, she told Ordell that she will swap bags in the dressing room. However, the bag contains only $40,000; Jackie leaves the rest in the dressing room for Max to pick up. Jackie takes $5,000 and places it on top of the bag she gives to Melanie. Jackie runs to the food court and finds Nicolette, claiming that Melanie burst into the dressing room and stole the money.
During the exchange, Melanie is uncooperative. In the parking lot, after she makes fun of Louis for forgetting where they parked, Louis fatally shoots her. Louis tells Ordell about Melanie. They then discover that most of the money is missing. When Louis recalls seeing Max at the shopping mall, an enraged Ordell kills Louis. Ordell tries to contact Max, but instead gets Winston, Max's business partner, who passes on the message.
Ordell instructs Max to tell Jackie that he will kill them both if she does not return the money, and that if she goes to the police, he will name her as an accessory. Max goes to the house where Ordell is staying, and tells him that Jackie, frightened, is waiting in Max's office with the money. Ordell holds Max at gunpoint as they enter his office. Jackie yells that Ordell has a gun. Nicolette, Dargus and Winston, hiding in the back, ambush him and shoot him dead. With Ordell, Louis, and Melanie dead, the charges against Jackie are dropped, and she plans a trip to Madrid. Max declines an invitation to join her. They kiss goodbye and he watches her drive away.
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