The movie opens with Koichiro Iketani driving on his way home on Akina, where he witnesses an impromptu battle between Keisuke Takahashi of the Akagi RedSuns and a mysterious Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 (known simply as "Eight-Six"), which outmaneuvers Keisuke, defeating him.
Later, at a gas station, Iketani invites his co-workers Takumi Fujiwara and Itsuki Takeuchi to a meet with his street racing team, the Akina Speedstars, located in Akina. While there, they find that the Akagi Red Suns were already there. Keisuke wanted to find and challenge the "monstrous" Eight-Six whereas Ryosuke, Keisuke's brother and leader of the Red Suns, uses the meet to initiate his plans to dominate the Kanto region. During their practice, the Speedstars are outmaneuvered by the Redsuns' amazing driving skills, but this doesn't stop Iketani from trying to keep up. As he starts another downhill run, he suddenly crashes into the guardrail due to his car striking a sharp bump along the road.
He later discovers the monstrous Eight-Six as a desperate replacement when his boss, Yuichi, reveals that the Eight-Six is a tofu delivery vehicle owned by Bunta Fujiwara, Takumi's father. Bunta declines Iketani's offer, claiming that he's too old to be Iketani's replacement. A few days later, Takumi asks Bunta to borrow the Eight-Six so that he can go on a date with his girlfriend, Natsuki Mogi. Bunta eventually accepts, but offers Takumi a condition that he must go to Akina on Saturday night and defeat Keisuke on the downhill run. However, unbeknownst to everyone else, it was Takumi who defeated Keisuke at that first encounter as he was returning from the daily morning delivery run.
Later, Takumi heads to the race under the bewilderment of the Speedstars. Iketani agrees to let Takumi race after finally understanding him. At the start of the race, Keisuke takes the lead and pulls away, but Takumi later catches up as the race goes on. Eventually, Takumi overtakes Keisuke on one of the five-consecutive hairpins by performing a "ditch turn". After Takumi wins the race, Keisuke tells Takumi to not lose until he ever rematches. Despite Takumi's claim that he's no racer, Keisuke claims that Takumi's racing is part of Takumi's own pride before driving away.
The next morning, Takumi and Natsuki play around at a beach during their date, where Takumi realizes his experience regarding last night's race. As Takumi embarks on his next morning delivery, he prepares himself for the next battles to come.
In a post-credit scene, a black Nissan Skyline GT-R R32, driven by the Myogi NightKids' Takeshi Nakazato, storms up Mt. Akina looking for Takumi's Eight-Six.
imdb:tt3971764