Humans coexist with other sentient species, notably orcs and elves. While magic is real, its practice is illegal. Rare magical artifacts known as magic wands exist, but only a select few individuals called "Brights" can wield them without dying.
In Los Angeles, veteran LAPD officer Daryl Ward has been involuntarily partnered with Nick Jakoby, the nation's first orc police officer. Jakoby is equally detested by the other officers for his race and his fellow orcs for being a policeman. Ward's relationship with Jakoby is strained since Ward was shot by an orc robber Jakoby failed to apprehend; Internal Affairs suspects Jakoby deliberately let him go.
One night, Ward and Jakoby respond to a disturbance at a safe house for the "Shield of Light", an extremist group that prophesies the return of the "Dark Lord", an ancient semi-mythical figure defeated many millennia ago. Inside, Ward and Jakoby apprehend the lone survivor, an elf girl named Tikka in possession of a wand. Ward calls for backup, but the moment the four arriving officers see the wand, they try to coerce Ward into killing Jakoby and letting them steal the wand for themselves.
Ward goes outside, demanding the truth about the robber. Jakoby admits he lost sight of Ward's assailant and mistakenly apprehended a second, younger orc; he then helped him flee, knowing that the backup officers would probably kill the boy on sight. When the four officers appear behind Ward, planning to kill both him and Jakoby, Ward turns and guns them down. The gunfire attracts the attention of the local Hispanic gang, while rumors of the wand draw the attentions of both its owner Leilah, the leader of the radical elf sect the Inferni, and Kandomere, an elf FBI agent assigned to the federal "Magic Task Force".
The gangsters corner the trio in a strip club, but are slaughtered by Leilah, allowing the trio to escape again. At a service station, Ward contacts his friend, Deputy Sheriff Rodriguez, whom he trusts. Rodriguez contacts Kandomere, but Leilah intercepts their conversation, attacks the service station and kills him.