In Harlem, New York, Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor) has a small-time dice game in the back of his candy store. After nearly being killed by an angry man who lost to Ray, he's saved when an 8-year old errand boy shoots the man in the head. The orphan, who goes by the name 'Quick', becomes the 'good luck charm' for Ray and grows up with him. 20 years later, Sugar Ray and a grown-up Quick (Eddie Murphy) now run a highly successful club called "Club Sugar Ray" in 1930s Harlem. The club is a speakeasy, with a brothel in the back run by tough talking Vera (Della Reese).