

When the partners in crime-busting respond to a reported burglary, Hutch is shot by one of the teenage robbers, leaving him critically ill in hospital. Starsky is paired with a dynamic new partner, black Policewoman Joan Meredith, to track down the thieves, and they find themselves on the trail of an operation that is using ghetto youths to commit burglaries, and then selling their hauls on the black market...

When they blow the capture of a wanted felon, Starsky and Hutch each blame the other, and lay down a bet to see whether or not Hutch can successfully elude Starsky for a whole weekend. But the exercise in hide-and-seek becomes more than just a game when Starsky realises that Hutch has unknowingly eaten contaminated soup, and could die from the potentially lethal botulism poisoning. It's a race against time as Starsky struggles to locate Hutch to warn him, but Hutch, unawares to the poisoning, assumes it's all part of Starsky's attempts to draw him out, and dons a number of disguises in order to stay one step ahead...