Set It Off is a 1996 drama film directed by F. Gary Gray, and stars Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise, as four close friends from Los Angeles who decide to plan and execute a bank robbery. They decide to do so for different reasons, although all four want better for themselves and their families than the opportunities available to them than in the racist and post-industrial Los Angeles.

Set It Off is a crime thriller about four African-American women bank robbers from a housing project in Los Angeles, California.

Ever since her parents' death, Stony (Jada Pinkett Smith) has had to act as a parent to her little brother Stevie (Chaz Lamar Shepard). She works in various capacities to make a future for him at UCLA. When her brother gets shot and killed by police officers in a case of mistaken identity, Stony gets disillusioned with her life, deciding to join with her friends to rob a bank.

Cleo (Queen Latifah) is a lesbian who wants nothing more than to customize her classic car. As demonstrated in the movie, she has refined car-stealing skills. She seems to be the only character motivated solely by greed.

Tisean (Kimberly Elise) is a painfully shy single mother to her son Jajuan, struggling to make ends meet. Tisean couldn't afford a babysitter and brings her son to work, which results in an accident occurring where her son swallows something poisonous. As a result, the child is taken away by protective services until Tisean can afford to hire a babysitter. This situation propels Tisean into a situation in which she is willing to join the bank robbers.

Frankie (Vivica A. Fox) is a stylish bank teller who gets fired and ends up working with the other three at a janitorial service owned by irritating boss Luther (Thomas Jefferson Byrd). Frankie was fired because she knew one of the perpetrators in a previous bank robbery that occurred while she was on duty. Not happy with her response during the robbery, nor with the fact that she knew one of the robbers, bank officials wrongly suspected her of collusion in the robbery.

With Frankie upset from her unjust firing, Stony angry from the wrongful killing of her brother, and Tisean losing her baby to the child protective services, the four friends are motivated to rob a bank themselves. Looking for thrills, Cleo attains firearms from Black Sam (Dr. Dre), and they pull off their first job without a hitch. Their success starts a trend and they rob other banks in the area, all the while being investigated by Detective Strode (John C. McGinley), who soon deduces that they are behind the robberies.

In a romantic subplot, Stony finds romance with wealthy Harvard-educated Keith (Blair Underwood), a bank executive she met while casing a potential robbery target. Keith is not turned off by Stony's lack of sophistication, nor does he condescend to her because of it. He truly cares for her and begins the process of introducing her to his more cultivated and cultured world, hoping she will decided to stay in it with him. Stony's feelings for Keith are equally genuine and she does find herself slowly beginning to fit into his life.

Ultimately though, the four women realize that the police are on to them and decide they have no choice but to leave town and go their separate ways. But they will do so only after pulling one last, big job: Keith's bank. Stony lures Keith away from the bank so that he will not be present during the robbery, which is then executed by Stony, Cleo and Tisean, with Frankie waiting outside as the getaway driver. Things go awry when the police are able to respond before the three women exit the bank.

The police nearly resolve the confrontation peacefully, successfully talking Stony and Tisean into putting down their weapons in preparation to surrender. Cleo is reluctant to give up, however, and continues to hold her weapon. A bank security guard then loses patience with the situation and initiates a gun battle with the three women. Amid the chaos, the three women escape to the getaway car which pulls away. However Tisean was mortally wounded during the firefight, and she dies as the women abandon their car and steal another.

The police soon locate and track the remaining three women. Unable to escape, Frankie and Stony furtively get out of the car and flee on foot while Cleo continues to drive the car to pull the police pursuit away from the other two. Cleo soon finds herself completely surrounded by police cars. Rather than surrenders she rams the car through the police barricade and then dies amid a hail of police gunfire, as the entire spectacle is broadcast on live television.

Stony escapes with her bag of money to a bus headed out of town. As she waits for the bus to depart, she sees Frankie coming to join her, but tracked down by the police before she can get there. Detective Strode tries to talk Frankie into surrendering, but she decides to turn and run for it, and is shot dead by the police upon doing so.

Stony has watched the entire scene from her seat on the bus, and only as the bus finally pulls away does Strode look up and see her aboard. Once safely away in Mexico with the spoils of the robbery, Stony calls Keith to thank him for their time together and for introducing her to a world outside of her life in the ghetto. Keith lets her know that he is glad she made it away safely. Stony begins cutting off her braids and mourns the deaths of her friends and of her brother as she prepares to begin her new life.