Although street racing provides an escape from an unhappy home and the superficial world around him, for outsider Sean Boswell, his reckless involvement in the sport has made him very unpopular with the local authorities. After one crash too many--and to avoid jail time--Sean is sent to live with his gruff, estranged father, a career military man stationed in Tokyo. Now officially a gaijin (outsider), Sean feels even more shut out in a land of foreign customers and codes of honor. But after a fellow American buddy, Twinkie, introduces him to the underground world of drift racing--an exhilarating balance of speeding and gliding through a heart-stopping course of hairpin turns and switchbacks--he's hooked again, and back in trouble. Simple drag racing is replaced by a new, rubber-burning automotive art form--just bad enough to fit Sean's rebel style. On his first time out drifting, Sean unknowingly takes on D.K., the "Drift King," a local champ with ties to the Japanese crime syndicate Yakuza. Sean's loss comes with a high price tag when he's forced to work off the debt under the thumb of another ex-pat named Han. Han soon welcomes Sean into his family of misfits and introduces him to the real principles of drifting. Whether for pink slips, wads of cash or bragging rights, the stakes remain high for Sean and his competition--as they learn to elevate the race itself to an art form. They will take cutting-edge, modified racers to the densely populated streets of Tokyo's urban landscape at neck-snapping speeds then smoothly glide through tight hairpin turns punctuated by screeches and the acrid smell of smoking rubber. But when Sean falls for D.K.'s girlfriend, Neela, an explosive series of events is set into motion, climaxing with an ultimate high-stakes face off against his nemesis. Punishment for the loser? Banishment from Tokyo forever by Yakuza crime boss--and D.K.'s uncle--Kamata--if they survive the race at all. Honor will be challenged and racing skills will be pushed to the extreme with only one winner standing as champion.