Set It Off 1996

Frankie Sutton is a Los Angeles bank teller who loses her job after a robbery when she recognizes one of the suspects from her neighborhood. A detective, Detective Strode, wrongly pinpoints her as an inside accomplice, turning her life upside down. With no other choice, she takes a low-wage job at Luther’s Janitorial Services alongside her three closest friends: Lida “Stony” Newsom, Cleopatra “Cleo” Sims, and Tisean “T.T.” Williams. The supervisor, Luther, treats the four women with contempt and pays them next to nothing, fueling a growing sense of oppression and injustice.

Tired of the mistreatment, Frankie begins to hatch a bold plan: to rob a bank with her friends. Cleo agrees, but [Stony] and [T.T.] are more hesitant at first. Their resolve hardens after tragedy strikes when Stevie, Stony’s younger brother, is killed by mistaken police gunfire. Simultaneously, T.T. faces a personal blow when her son is taken from her by Child Protective Services after he is accidentally poisoned at her workplace—an act that underscores the precarious line many face between precarious livelihoods and danger. The mounting pressures push T.T. and Stony to join Frankie’s scheme, turning a shared grievance into a calculated, high-stakes plan.

As they begin casing a bank, a spark forms between Stony and the bank manager, Keith Weston. The romance threads through the criminal enterprise, as Keith becomes more than just a bystander in their audacious operation. The four women leverage Frankie’s inside knowledge of bank procedures, security, and timing to pull off a string of successful robberies. The LAPD launches an investigation, and Detective Strode narrows the field to the most likely suspects: Cleo, Frankie, and Stony. Yet with Frankie’s meticulous planning and careful detachment, the detective finds it difficult to assemble enough evidence to indict.

To protect their winnings, the group hides the loot in an air vent at one of their work sites. They soon discover a new, unseen boss overseeing Luther’s janitorial operation, and they realize Luther himself has discovered the stash and vanished with it. The tension escalates as Stony attends a banking industry event with Keith, and their shared night ends with intimacy; meanwhile, the two remaining partners pursue Luther to a motel, only to find him with a prostitute. When the trio demands the return of their money, Luther pulls a gun, and T.T. shoots him to defend the others. Cleo is questioned by Detective Strode, but she leverages pressure over the prostitute to avoid identification. The revelation unsettles Stony, who begins to doubt the viability of their partnership. Despite these setbacks, the foursome agrees to lay low and plan one more heist before fleeing.

Their next target is Downtown Federal Bank—the city’s largest—where Keith works. Stony asks him to meet at a café on the far side of town to avoid exposing him to their crime. The foursome carries out the heist, earning more money than they anticipated. The arresting officers corner the scene, and [Detective Strode] and his partner demand surrender. As [T.T.] prepares to surrender, a bank security guard fires, mortally wounding her from behind. The guard is promptly killed by Stony in retaliation, and Cleo opens fire to cover their escape. T.T. dies in Stony’s arms, a brutal reminder of the cost of their actions. The surviving robbers scatter, with Cleo insisting that Stony and Frankie keep T.T.’s and her own shares of the loot.

Cleo leads a high-speed chase to shake off pursuit, ultimately being forced to crash through a police barricade. She is killed in a final shootout with the pursuing officers, a death that devastates her girlfriend Ursula, who has been watching the events unfold on television. Meanwhile, Detective Strode closes in on Frankie, who refuses to surrender. Instead, Frankie points a gun at Strode, reminding him of how he catalyzed their downward spiral. The detective’s guards shoot Frankie from behind, ending her life. Stony watches the moment from a distance as a passing charter bus carries her away, and Strode, moved by guilt for his part in the tragedy, allows her to depart rather than pursuing her.

In the aftermath, Stony escapes to Mexico, where she cuts off her hair and mourns the deaths of her friends and brother. She reaches out to Keith, who greets her with a smile, and she drives away with half of the loot, carrying the weight of loss and survival as she starts anew on a uncertain path toward freedom.