Plot

A teenager becomes a major competitor in the world of drift racing after moving in with his father in Tokyo to avoid a jail sentence in America.

An American teenager named Sean Boswell is a loner in school, however he challenges his rival for an illegal street racing, and he totals his car in the end of the race. To avoid time in prison he is sent to Tokyo to live with his father who is in the military. As soon as he arrives he discovers a new, fun but dangerous way of street racing in the underworld of the streets of Tokyo, Japan.—Emphinix

Sean Boswell, an Alabama teenager with a record for street racing, moves to his father's resident city of Tokyo, Japan to avoid a prison sentence in America. Boswell quickly falls in love with the world of drift racing in Tokyo's underground and a Japanese girl named Neela. However, Boswell's presence and growing talent for drifting unsettles the Japanese Mafia, which makes thousands of dollars from the sport. Confrontations arise, and Sean is faced with a simple decision: drift or die.—rball4042

After totaling his car in an illegal street race, Sean Boswell is sent to live with his father, who is in the military, in Tokyo, Japan, to avoid juvy or even jail. While in school, he befriends Twinkie, a "military brat." Twinkie introduces him to the world of racing in Japan. Though forbidden to drive, he decides to race against D.K., the "Drift King", who has ties to the Yakuza, and loses, totaling the car because of his lack of knowledge of drifting, racing that involves dangerous hair pin turns. To repay his debt, he enters the underground world of drift street racing. As he becomes better and better, he must finally prove his worth in that world by once again racing D.K.—Brittany Jorgensen

Sean Boswell, who has always been an outsider. A loner at school, his only connection to the indifferent world around him is through illegal street racing -- which has made him particularly unpopular with the local authorities. To avoid jail time, Sean is sent out of the country to live with his Farther in the military, in a cramped apartment in a low-rent section of Tokyo. In the land that gave birth to the majority of modified racers on the road, the simple street race has been replaced by the ultimate pedal-to-the-metal, gravity-defying automotive challenge - drift racing, a deadly combination of brutal speed on heart stopping courses of hairpin turns and switchbacks. For his first unsuccessful foray in drift racing, Sean unknowingly takes on D.K., the "Drift King," with ties to the Yakuza, the Japanese crime machine. The only way he can pay off the debt of his loss is to venture into the deadly realm of the Tokyo underworld, where the stakes are life and death.—ahmetkozan

17-year-old Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is a social outcast from Alabama in his high school in Oro Valley, Arizona with a passion for vehicles. His parents got divorced when he was a 3-year-old, and he has a police record due to reckless driving with 2 offenses. To avoid solitary confinement, him and his mom move a lot, resulting in Sean's lack of friendship.

One afternoon, after school, a local rich student named Clay (Zachary Ty Bryan), who is the captain of their school's football team which calls themselves "The Ducks", mocks Sean's built 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Sean insults him about his "daddy's Viper", which causes Clay to burst, and while Sean is driving away, he uses a baseball to shatter the rear windshield of Sean's Monte Carlo. Soon, an angry Sean challenges Clay to a street race, to which Sean wants to race only for Pink slips. After some retaliation, Clay's girlfriend, Cindy, offers herself as the prize.

The racetrack is then officially declared which is a construction site for a new suburbia scheduled for creation. The start gets atrocious for Sean, and Clay is in the lead. Sean drives through an alley to catch up with Clay, and he drives through an unfinished house. He passes Clay, who retaliates by trying to ram him off the road, damaging his Viper in the process. Sean T-bones Clay and he crashes into a cement pipe, but Sean loses control, and he flips over several times, totaling his Monte Carlo. Later on, Clay and Sean are both convicted for illegal street racing and property damage.

Because of his numerous brushes with the law in the past, and also tired of moving away all the time, Sean's mom sends him to Tokyo, to live with his dad, who is stationed as a United States Navy officer. Upon arriving at his dad's home in Tokyo, he is warned by his dad not to stir up any trouble, and to not go anywhere near a vehicle or he'll get deported back to the United States to go to jail there, as he had already committed the maximum of 3 criminal offenses.

At his new high school, Sean is an outcast like before, but he meets Twinkie (Bow Wow), an extremely business-minded fellow American immigrant, who sells Pre-owned goods around the school, and he drives a custom-designed, but odd Hulk-themed 2004 Volkswagen Touran van. Twinkie introduces Sean to the drift racing scene in Tokyo, at the parking lot reserved for street racers and audience. On the lot, Sean has a verbal confrontation with Takashi (Brian Tee) - also known as "Drift King" or DK, because he was talking to his girlfriend, Neela (Nathalie Kelley), whom he met earlier in school.

After the confront, Takashi challenges Sean to the illegal street race, and Han Seul-Oh (Sung Kang), Takashi's friend and business partner, lends him his Nissan Silvia S-15 but due to Sean's lack of knowledge on how to drift, he is defeated by Takashi's Nissan 350Z and his skills, and destroys the Silvia. After the race, Han warns him not to leave town. As he returns home, his father confronts him, and they have an argument, but eventually Sean agrees to stay away from racing. The next day, Han meets Sean after school, who is now driving an orange-black 1994 Mazda RX-7 FD and he tells him that he must work for him to repay the damaging his vehicle.

Han ends up Sean's friend and teaches him to drift, giving him a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX (with the WRC tuning) to represent Han in future races. Han explains to him that he is helping him because Sean is the only one who is unafraid of Takashi (calling him DK's "kryptonite"), and Han explains that he arrived in Tokyo to prevent conviction also and says Tokyo "is his Mexico". Sean leaves his dad's house and bunks with Han, and soon masters drifting and gains some reputation after racing Morimoto and winning against him. One evening when Neela and Sean go on a date, explaining her story; she is an outsider, and her mom arrived in Tokyo from Australia after high school, working as a barmaid, and after she died when she was ten years old, DK's grandparents took her in, and she hooked up with DK. DK beats up Sean the next day, telling him to stay away from Neela, or "the only thing he will be driving is a wheelchair". Angry after seeing Sean's bruises, Neela leaves Takashi, moving into Han's garage.

One evening, Takashi's uncle Kamata (Sonny Chiba), a local Yakuza high-ranking member, visits him at his small storage room next to his cover-up betting shop. Kamata informs Takashi that the business is going far less than expectations, and Takashi realizes that Han has been nabbing a few of his merchandise, as Kamata departs. Later that night, Takashi and Morimoto arrive at Han's garage and confront Han, Sean, and Neela about the goods, and Takashi pulls out his weapon and threatened to shoot at Han. Twinkie causes a distraction, and Han, Sean and Neela use the moment to escape from the garage, with Morimoto and Takashi in close pursuit.

The 4 are driving throughout the Tokyo community, with Han in the lead, behind him Sean and Neela, with Morimoto and Takashi closing up to them. Morimoto closes up and tries to T-bone Sean over the road, but he misses avoiding traffic and collides with an oncoming driver, killing him instantly and resulting in a chain car crash. Takashi continues along, and he manages to catch up with Sean, ramming him over the road. Han slams the brakes, switching the tables, with Sean heading on the front. Sean tries to help Han, but he finds himself in front of the large Shibuya square, honking to move the crowd, making a line to drift on the next corner. Takashi uses the moment and pulls a 180 spin, shooting on Han's windshield. Sean, noticing this, doesn't look at the traffic, and another driver rear-ends him, totaling his Evo. Meanwhile, Han pushes Takashi out of the road, and a oncoming car collides with him, flipping him over several times. Sean tries to help him, but their vehicle explodes, killing Han. Takashi then departs from the scene.

Horrified by this event, Sean and Neela retreat and get back to where Sean's dad lives, but Takashi shows up and orders Neela to get in his vehicle, and attacks Sean. Sean gets the upper hand, but Takashi pulls his firearm on him. Sean's father shows up on the scene, forcing Takashi to leave with Neela. Sean's father tells him to retrieve his things as he is demanding to return to the United States, but Sean insists on staying to make things right. After some retaliation, Sean's father tells him "At least he is not making his mistakes" and decides to relent. With the help of Twinkie, Sean goes to the Yakuza neighborhood and returns Kamata's stolen currency, which Han left to Sean proposing a race against Takashi to determine who will leave Tokyo. Kamata agrees to the challenge, but it will take place on DK's mountain, because he has been the only one to make it down all the way.

The next day, Sean and Han's friends check Han's garage, but find that the Tokyo Police Department obtained all of their vehicles except the one Sean crashed in first race with DK, the Silvia. Sean takes the 1967 Ford Mustang GT which his dad found at his navy base and remodels it with the help of Twinkie and the rest of the crew, using the engine components of Han's Silvia which Sean previously wrecked. The group restore the Mustang to the original shape.

On the local mountain, Han's crew and Takashi's crew show up, gathering signal through local video calls to watch the race. Kamata shows up with Neela, while DK shows up next to Sean, who waited for him. One of Kamata's goons gives the mark to start the race. Although Takashi takes the lead in front, Sean passes him over couple of times, to which Takashi responds by ramming him multiple times, trying to scare him off the mountain road. As the race progresses, Takashi almost totals his 350Z trying to stop Sean from winning, but Sean gains the lead at the end of the race, managing to turn on the finish line just as Takashi tries to ram him, T-boning him and sending him off the cliff humiliating him and winning the race. As Takashi's crew pulls him from the totaled Z, Neela reunites with Sean, and Kamata lets Sean go, departing from Tokyo.

Months later, Sean is now the Drift King. One night, Twinkie informs Sean that he has a challenger to a race who has become well known around Asia. Sean declines, but Twinkie says that he knew Han, and that he was family to him. Sean accepts. The challenger turns out to be none other than Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), who is driving "the Hammer", an old custom-built silver 1970 Plymouth Satellite. Sean, driving a Nissan Silvia like Han's - already knowing Dominic's reputation - tells him that this won't be a ten second race. Dominic responds with a smile on his face and says that he has nothing but time. The film ends as both cars race off towards the first straight.