Roman Pierce and Brian O'Connor are friends in high school in Salt Lake City. Brian tunes his Honda prelude to be fast but he must legally drive it on the Bonneville Flats to test it. Brian is old enough to drive but is not good enough to get the high speed record. His friend, Roman Pierce, is an excellent driver, but Roman is a freshmen and can not legally drive. In addition, Roman has gotten in to trouble before by driving illegally. Brian really wants to break the record but is not able so he lets his friend, Roman, drive his car and Roman breaks the record the first time. Brian takes the credit in a famous tuner magazine while Roman ends up in jail for years. Brian is sent to go to school for criminology in Las Vegas. Brian gets caught up in the low rider drag racing scene. The Las Vegas police want him to go undercover to reveal the connection between the illegal street racers with the casino's money laundering activities....