Exhibit 5.1

                           [JENKENS & GILCHRIST LETTERHEAD]




                                   October 15, 1997



FIRSTPLUS Financial Group, Inc.
1600 Viceroy
8th Floor
Dallas, Texas 75235

    Re:  Offering of Common Stock of FIRSTPLUS Financial Group, Inc.

Gentlemen:

    Concurrently with the giving of this opinion, FIRSTPLUS Financial Group,
Inc., a Nevada corporation (the "Company"), is filing with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "Commission") its registration statement on Form S-3
(the "Registration Statement") under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
"Act").  The Registration Statement relates to the sale by Residential Funding
Corporation, a stockholder of the Company (the "Selling Stockholder") of an
aggregate of 500,000 shares (the "Shares") of common stock, par value $.01 per
share, of the Company, pursuant to Rule 415 under the Act.  We have acted as
counsel to the Company in connection with the preparation and filing of the
Registration Statement.

    In connection therewith, we have examined and relied upon the original or
copies, certified to our satisfaction, of (i) the Amended and Restated Articles
of Incorporation and Bylaws of the Company, in each case as amended to date,
(ii) copies of resolutions of the Board of Directors of the Company authorizing
the issuance of the Shares to the Selling Stockholder, (iii) the Registration
Statement, and all exhibits thereto, and (iv) such other documents and
instruments as we have deemed necessary for the expression of the opinions
herein contained.  In making the foregoing examinations, we have assumed the
genuineness of all signatures and the authenticity of all documents submitted to
us as originals, and the conformity to original documents of all documents
submitted to us as certified or photostatic copies.  As to various questions of
fact material to this opinion, we have relied, to the extent we deem reasonably
appropriate, upon representations or certificates of officers or directors of
the Company and upon documents, records and instruments furnished to us by the
Company, without independent check or verification of their accuracy.



FIRSTPLUS Financial Group, Inc.
October 15, 1997
Page 2


    Based upon the foregoing examination, we are of the opinion that the Shares
to be sold by the Selling Stockholder in the offering, as described in the
Prospectus forming a part of the Registration Statement, have been duly and
validly authorized for issuance and the Shares, when sold by the Selling
Stockholder in the manner stated in the Prospectus constituting a part of the
Registration Statement, will be legally issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

    We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the
Registration Statement and to the use of our name under the caption "Legal
Matters" in the Prospectus forming a part of the Registration Statement.  In
giving such consent, we do not admit that we come within the category of persons
whose consent is required by Section 7 of the Act or the rules and regulations
of the Commission thereunder.

                                       Respectfully submitted,

                                       JENKENS & GILCHRIST, A
                                       PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION



                                       By: /s/
                                          ------------------------------------
                                          Ronald J. Frappier, Esq.