After totaling his car in an illegal street race, Shaun 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.