The Fast and The Furious (2001 Film) - Plot

Plot

In the middle of the night, on a highway in Los Angeles, California, three black modified 1995 Honda Civic EG follow a semi-trailer truck. One of the masked pursuers breaks a windshield with a crossbow, and grappels himself to the seat. He subdues the driver and the Civics commandeer the truck, managing to steal over $6 million in merchandise of TV-s and electronics that were on the truck.

L.A.P.D. officer Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is sent undercover on a joint FBI-L.A.P.D. investigation to infiltrate the local L.A illegal street racing scene so he could find and apprehend the truck hijackers. Brian uses his cover job at The Racer's Edge, an aftermarket parts shop, to make connections and infiltrate the local street racing scene. One night, on a local street racing gathering, he enters his modified 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse 2G RS 420A into an illegal race with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Edwin (Ja Rule) and Ryo (RyoTheRapper) bartering the pink slips, due that he doesn't have enough money to bet in the race, asking for cash and respect if he wins the race.

Brian, due to his lack of knowledge in racing, activates too much nitrous oxide, pressurising the Eclipse's engine, frying it, resulting in the car automatically braking and spinning out to prevent overheating, with Brian also losing the race to Dominic, who drives a modified 1993 Mazda RX-7 FD. Dominic also mocks him in front of the gathered racers and viewers. Suddenly, L.A.P.D. arrives on the scene and Brian flees away, as well as Dominic with the rest of the drivers. Dominic arrives at a local parking lot and ditches his car to prevent being caught, but a squad car recognizes him. He runs into an alley, where Brian arrives and they escape the patrol, and thus wins Dominic's respect.

As they flee from the scene, Dominic and Brian accidentally venture into L.A's Little Saigon, encountering Dominic's rival, Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) along with his cousin Lance Nguyen (Reggie Lee) and his gang. Tran warns Dominic to stay away from his territory, and that he will smoke him at the "Race Wars", a massive street racing event held in the desert, before departing the scene. The duo tries to leave, but Johnny returns with Lance, who open fire with submachine guns, rupturing a nitrous tank and destroying the Eclipse in the resulting explosion. Brian and Dominic leave Little Saigon and hail a cab.

Later on, Dom invites Brian to a party at his house, where he encounters with Dominic's friend, Vince (Matt Schulze), who dislikes Brian because of Dominic's sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster), who takes interest in Brian. At the party, Brian also meets Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Dom's longtime girlfriend, and the rest of the Dom's crew, Leon (Johnny Strong), an expert mechanic and also Dom's old friend, and Jesse (Chad Lindberg), a geek specialized in electronics.

The next day, Brian delivers a totaled 1994 Toyota Supra Mk IV 2JZ to Dominic's shop and offers his talents as a driver to repay the debt incurred from losing the race. Brian begins dating Mia, while Dom and the rest of the crew goes to work restoring the Supra. Dominic also invites Brian to his house, showing him a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T B, which he built with his father. Dom tells him that his father was a stock car driver. One day, his father was in the front row, on the last race on the season. Another driver tried to overtake him from the inner corner and pushed him in the wall at 200 mph. He instantly died in the crash as the car exploded. He met the driver who killed his father a week later. He had a 3/4" torque wrench and almost beated him up to death. This caused Dom to have a record, and he was forbidden to return to the track for life. Dom explains to Brian: "I live my life a quarter-mile at a time...not for my family, my friends or any of their bullshit. For those 10 seconds or less, I'm free".

One night, Brian is checking under the local garages, hoping to find the Civics. Just as he was leaving without finding anything, he is knocked out by Vince. He is dragged to Dom, who asks Brian to reason himself at Vince's gunpoint. Brian lies saying at The Racer's Edge, Hector (Noel Guglielmi), the man who organized the race the other night, ordered three T66 modified engines with exhaust systems, leaving him in a (false) suspicion that he is planning something big, probably for Tran. Dom takes him to Little Saigon, where they raid another garage. Inside, they discover that there is no engines inside the cars, but Brian notices shipment of electronics in the garage. They hide as Tran and Lance arrive, torturing the mechanic to give him the engines they requested. They manage to escape without being seen.

This convinces Brian that Tran's crew is behind the hijacks, and lets Sergeant Tanner (Ted Levine) and FBI special agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) know. The SWAT team, along with Brian, raids Tran's house and arrests him and his cousin Lance, but it is shown up that the electronics are legally bought, and that the only charges against them is minor parking tickets and un-paid speeding fines, forcing them to set them free as their ransom is paid. Bilkins and Tanner, Brian's superiors return to their original theory that Dominic and his crew are the perpetrators. Tanner warns Brian not to let his feelings for Mia or his friendship with Dominic cloud his judgment and lead him too far from the case, and Bilkins, angered about the situation, gives Brian only 36 hours to break the case or he will be sacked from the job and lose his entire career.

Meanwhile, with the Supra now fully prepped to race, Brian asks Dominic for information regarding his income, citing that his small store alone wouldn't pay for all his racing expenditures, and that he wants to be in whatever he is doing. Instead, Dominic gives Brian an invitation to "Race Wars", and informs him they'll talk once Brian has proven his worth on the strip. On Race Wars, Letty wins some cash against a local racer, but Jesse, wanting to impress his imprisoned father and a street racer, bets his modified 1995 Volkswagen Jetta A3 (belonging to his father) and Tran bets his modified 1999 Honda S2000. Jesse loses, panics and flees the track, prompting Tran to confront Dominic and demand that he retrieve the car for him. Dominic refuses and Tran accuses him of informing on him, causing him to be humiliated in front of his entire family. In response Dominic brutally beats Tran and is pulled off by Vince and two security guards. That night, Brian notices Dominic and his crew leaving the Race Wars.

Brian realizes that Dominic is the hijacker and confesses to Mia his status as an undercover cop. She is furious at him and demands him to leave her, but he explains that everything that he said to her about their relationship is true and convinces her to come with him to save her brother and his friends from the armed truck drivers, and they leave on the Highway 65 outside L.A. to catch up with Dominic and the rest of the group.

Meanwhile, the attempted hijacking went wrong when the truck driver fights back with a shotgun, causing Vince to be stuck on the truck's doors and Letty to spin out from the road. Brian tracks their location by triangulating Dominic's cell phone signal, and works with Mia, cutting the ropes to get Vince out of the truck. They place him on the ground just as Dom and Leon arrive (Dom's car was broken down, while Leon went to pick up injured Letty), and Dom goes to help them. Brian, realizing that Vince can die, makes the difficult decision to blow his cover to the crew by phoning in for a medivac, revealing to Dominic that he is a police officer. The revelation enrages Dominic, but he contains himself and flees with Leon, Letty and Mia as the medivac arrives for Vince.

Brian follows Dominic to his house and holds him at gunpoint to prevent him from fleeing, but Dominic explains that he is going to look for Jesse before Tran finds him. Just when Dominic points his shotgun to him, Jesse arrives, apologizing for his actions at Race Wars and pleading for Dominic's help. Moments later, Tran and Lance arrive on their bikes and perform a drive-by shooting, killing Jesse. Brian and Dominic chase them, with Dom in his Charger. He forces Lance's motorcycle off the road, severely injuring him, while Brian, after a short chase, manages to shoot and kill Tran. Afterwards, Brian and Dominic engage in a drag race, narrowly avoiding a passing train. Despite making the train track jump, Dominic crashes into a semi-truck and rolls his car twice. Brian pulls out Dom, with Dom assuming that he will be apprehended, but instead of arresting him, Brian hands over the keys to the Supra and lets him escape, making good on his promise to deliver a "ten-second car". Dom escapes in Brian's car as Brian walks away.

After the credits, Dominic is seen driving through Baja California, Mexico, in a red 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, while he narrates the words that he explained to Brian before he disappears into the sunset. His last narrations are; "I live my life a quarter-mile at a time. For those 10 seconds or less, I'm free."