At the Los Angeles port, a heist crew driving three heavily modified Honda Civics hijack a semi-truck trailer carrying electronic goods and escape into the night along the Terminal Island Freeway. Meanwhile, LAPD officer Brian O'Conner is sent undercover as part of a joint LAPD-FBI task force to locate the crew responsible.
Brian investigates Toretto's Market & Cafe, managed by Mia, sister of notorious street racer Dominic "Dom" Toretto. When Dom's crew arrives—Vince, Leon, Jesse, and Dom's girlfriend Letty—Vince becomes suspicious of Brian and picks a fight with him. As a result of the fight, Dom threatens to fire Brian from his undercover job at Harry's garage and ban him from the market, but Harry manages to reason with him and keep Brian employed.
Brian brings a modified 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS to a car meet, hoping to find a lead on the heist crew. Dom arrives in his Mazda RX-7 and initiates a race. Without credibility, Brian wagers his car; he, Dom, and two other drivers race. Brian's car malfunctions and Dom wins the race, but LAPD officers arrive, forcing Dom to flee. Brian rescues him, helping him escape, inadvertently venturing into territory held by a rival racing gang led by Johnny Tran and his cousin Lance. Tran and Lance destroy the Eclipse, and the two are forced to return to Dom's home in a cab. Dom reiterates that Brian still owes him a ten-second car.
Brian delivers a decrepit MK4 Toyota Supra to Dom's garage, and the crew begins the process of restoring it. At the same time, he begins dating Mia and looks into Tran's finances.
Hector comes to Harry’s garage and speaks to Brian with the intent to buy performance parts for Honda Civics. While Brian is investigating one of Hector's garages, looking for the Civics that have been involved in the heists, Brian is discovered by Dom and Vince; he convinces the latter he is researching Tran's gang's vehicles in preparation for Race Wars.
In the process, the three discover a large number of electronic goods, which Brian reports to his superiors, LAPD Sergeant Tanner and FBI Special Agent Bilkins. Tran is arrested, but is found to have acquired the goods legally. An enraged Bilkins berates Tanner and Brian. Bilkins then informs Brian that the truck drivers have begun arming themselves to kill the hijackers and notifies him that he has 36 hours to find them, whom the former believes was Dom all along. Brian and Dom attend Race Wars, where Jesse wagers and loses his father's MK3 Volkswagen Jetta in a drag race against Tran driving his Honda S2000. Jesse flees upon losing, resulting in a confrontation between Dom and Tran. Tran accuses Dom of being a narc, and the two fight before being broken up.
That evening, Brian witnesses Dom leaving with his crew to carry out the heist. Brian reveals his identity to a distraught Mia, convincing her to help him, knowing their danger. Dom, Letty, Vince, and Leon attempt to hijack the truck; the driver fires on Vince, critically injuring him and running Letty off the road in the process. Brian and Mia catch up to help, but Brian is forced to reveal his identity when he calls for MEDEVAC to save Vince. Dom, Mia, Letty, and Leon flee the scene before the police arrive.
Later, Brian arrives to arrest Dom, but the latter demands he leave in order to save Jesse from the danger he's in from Tran's gang. Jesse arrives, pleading for help, but he is gunned down by Tran and Lance on motorcycles. Brian foregoes his arrest of Dom and gives pursuit to Tran and Lance, with Dom getting into his father's 1970 Dodge Charger R/T to pursue Tran and avenge Jesse. During the chase, Dom runs Lance off the road before Brian shoots and kills Tran.
Brian then pursues Dom, and the two agree to a quarter-mile race over a railroad crossing. The race narrowly ends in a draw, but Dom is t-boned by a passing truck. Instead of arresting him, Brian hands over the keys to his Supra, reminding Dom he was owed a ten-second car. He walks away as Dom drives off.
In the post-credits scene, Dom is driving through Baja California, Mexico, in a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS.
In 2000, actor Paul Walker had worked with director Rob Cohen on The Skulls. Cohen secured a deal with producer Neal H. Moritz for an untitled action film for Universal Pictures, and approached Walker and asked him to suggest his "dream" action film; Walker suggested a mash-up of the films Days of Thunder (1990) and Donnie Brasco (1997). Soon thereafter, Cohen and Moritz brought him the Vibe magazine article "Racer X" by Ken Li, published in May 1998, which detailed underground street racing operating in New York City, and suggested a story set to follow Walker as an undercover cop tasked with
Reception
The Fast and the Furious earned $40,089,015 during its opening weekend and ranked #1 at the box office ahead of Dr. Dolittle 2, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The film became one of the four consecutive Universal films of 2001 to gross $40 million in their opening weekends, with the others being Jurassic Park III, American Pie 2 and The Mummy Returns. Its widest release was 2,889 theaters. During its run, the film made $148,961,825 in North America, along with $63,686,572 internationally, for a worldwide total gross of $212,648,856 on a budget of $38 million.
