The crowd goes wild with the Pawn Stars when concert posters signed by Johnny Cash and Stevie Ray Vaughn rock and unroll the shop. Will Corey get them for a song, or will they be out of tune? Then, Rick feels the rush when checking out original blueprints of the Hoover Dam. Will he flood the seller with offers or will the deal hit a wall? And later, when Chum breaks Rick's new expensive sunglasses, will he come clean or replace them on the cheap?
Pawn Stars is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24-hour family business operated by patriarch Richard Harrison (or "The Old Man"), his son Rick Harrison (who opened the shop with his father in 1988), Rick's son Corey (who has worked there since childhood), and Corey's childhood friend, Austin "Chumlee" Russell.
The series depicts the staff's interactions with customers, who bring in a variety of artifacts to sell or pawn and who are shown haggling over the price and discussing its historical background, with narration provided by the Harrisons and occasionally Chumlee. The series also follows the interpersonal conflicts among the cast.
Numerous local experts in a variety of areas also regularly appear to appraise the items being sold or pawned.