Two carefree pals (Macchio and Whitfield) traveling through Alabama are mistakenly arrested, and charged with murder. Fortunately, Vincent Gambini (Pesci) is the cousin of one of them and he is a lawyer. Vinny is a former auto mechanic from Brooklyn who just passed his bar exam after his sixth try and has never been in court. When cousin Vinny arrives with his leather-clad girlfriend (Tomei) to handle his first case, it's a real shock - for both Vinny and the Deep South.