Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is involved in a crash during a local street race. Because of his numerous brushes with the law in the past, his mother sends him to Tokyo, Japan, to live with his father, who is stationed as a U.S. Naval officer. Upon arriving at his father's home in Tokyo, he is warned by his father not to stir up any trouble, or he will return to the U.S. to serve jail time.
Sean meets Twinkie (Bow Wow), a fellow American, who introduces him to the drift racing scene. Sean has a verbal confrontation with Takashi (Brian Tee) - also known as DK (short for Drift King) and nephew to a local yakuza boss - because he was talking to DK's girlfriend, Neela (Nathalie Kelley). They race and Sean is defeated and destroys the car lent to him by Han (Sung Kang), DK's business partner. The next day, Han meets Sean after school and tells Sean that he must work for him to repay the damage done to his car.
Han becomes Sean's friend, and teaches him to drift. Han does this because Sean is the only one unafraid of DK (calling him DK's "kryptonite"). Neela and Sean go on a date which precipitates DK to beat him up. Angry after seeing Sean's bruises, Neela leaves DK to be with Sean.
DK's uncle Kamata (Sonny Chiba), a Yakuza, admonishes DK for allowing Han to steal from him. DK confronts Han, Sean and Neela whereupon they flee. The resulting car chase results in the death of Han in a fatal collision. DK, Sean, and Sean's father become involved in an armed standoff which is resolved by Neela agreeing to leave with DK. With the help of Twinkie, Sean returns Kamata's stolen money, proposing a race against DK to determine who must leave Tokyo. Sean and Han's friends then build a car from various parts of Han's lent car. During the race, DK drives off the cliff and wrecks his car, resulting in Sean winning the race.
Later, Sean, now the Drift King, is challenged to a race in the parking lot by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), a good friend of Han.
