Streets of Fire - Plot

Plot

In an unnamed city, Ellen Aim (Lane), lead singer of Ellen Aim and The Attackers, has returned home to give a concert. The Bombers, a biker gang, led by Raven Shaddock (Dafoe), enter the auditorium and kidnap her.

Witnessing all of this is Reva Cody (Deborah Van Valkenburgh), who runs a local diner, wires her kid brother Tom Cody (Paré), an ex-soldier and Ellen's ex-boyfriend, to rescue her. Tom arrives by elevated train and, after taking Reva home, checks out the local tavern, the Blackhawk, where Clyde (Bill Paxton) tends bar. He is annoyed by a tomboyish looking ex-soldier named McCoy (Amy Madigan), a mechanic who "could drive anything" and who is good with her fists, as evidenced when she knocks out Clyde. They leave the bar and McCoy asks Tom for a place to stay for the night. He obliges, taking her home, where she gets the couch. That night, Tom and Reva plan to rescue Ellen; Reva is to contact Billy Fish (Rick Moranis), Ellen's manager and current boyfriend, to meet at the diner in the morning.

While Reva and McCoy go to the diner to wait for Billy, Tom acquires a cache of weapons that includes a pump action shotgun, a Stainless Ruger Redhawk revolver, and a Marlin lever action rifle. Tom and Billy meet at the diner and Tom agrees to the rescue on the condition that Billy pays him $10,000 and that he goes with Tom back into "the Battery" to get Ellen. Billy agrees, and Tom hires McCoy to drive for 10%.

In the Battery, they visit Torchie's, where Billy used to book bands. They wait until nightfall, down the block under an overpass, watching a lot of bikers come and go. Inside the bar, The Blasters play "One Bad Stud" while a dancer (Marine Jahan) gyrates on a small stage. Raven has Ellen tied up to a bed in a room upstairs. As Tom, Billy, and McCoy approach Torchie's, Tom directs Billy to return to the car and be out front in fifteen minutes. Tom plans to go in topside while McCoy uses the front door.

McCoy enters and is stopped by one of the Bombers. McCoy, pretending to like him, follows him to his special "party room", just down the hall from where Raven is playing poker. McCoy pulls a handgun on the gang member and knocks him out with the butt of her weapon. Tom explores the building across from the bar until he is directly across from Ellen's window. McCoy bursts into the card game and gets the drop on Raven and the rest. Tom starts to blow up the bikes, shooting their gas tanks, then slides down and runs up to Ellen's room. He cuts her free and, with McCoy's help, escapes just as Billy arrives at the front door.

As the others jump into the convertible, Tom sends them off to meet at the Grant Street Overpass, then blows up the gas pumps outside the bar as a diversion. Raven appears out of the flames and chaos to confront Tom. After learning who he is, Raven warns he'll be back for her and for him, too. Tom escapes on the one motorcycle that survived destruction. Billy is persuading Ellen to wise up, telling her the only reason her ex-boyfriend rescued her was for money. Tom arrives and jumps into the car, and McCoy pointedly explains to Billy that Tom used to be Ellen's old flame.

Ditching the very visible street rod in a parking garage, Ellen follows Tom up the stairs while Billy and McCoy take the elevator. Ellen and Tom fight as Billy and McCoy go back and forth once again about Tom and Ellen's love affair. When they all meet up on the street, they are in the Battery. The group returns Ellen safely home where she initially rejects her home town as well as Tom. Later, he goes to the hotel where Ellen and Billy are staying to collect his reward. He only takes McCoy's cut and throws the rest in Billy's face. He then tells Ellen that there was a time he would've done anything for her but no more. As Tom storms out, Ellen follows and the two embrace in the rain.

Meanwhile, Raven informs Officer Ed Price (Richard Lawson), the head of the police department, that he wants Tom to confront him alone. If he agrees he will leave the Richmond alone. Price tells Tom to get out of town. Tom, Ellen, and McCoy leave on a train. He knocks out Ellen and returns to town for a climactic battle with Raven involving railroad spike hammers. Tom defeats Raven and the defeated gang carries their leader away. Later that night, he says a final goodbye to Ellen and rides off with McCoy.