- An inexperienced rookie is teamed up with a hardened pro at the California Highway Patrol in Los Angeles; the newbie officer soon learns his partner is really an undercover Fed investigating a heist which may involve some crooked cops.
- An FBI agent goes undercover in the California Highway Patrol as officer Frank "Ponch" Poncherello. Members of the CHP have been robbing cash delivery vehicles and his job is to uncover the perpetrators. At the CHP he is partnered with a 30-something rookie, Jon Baker. Baker is a former professional motorcycle rider with a list of ailments and personal problems who is lucky to be in the CHP. They are very different people and immediately clash.—grantss
- The film begins with a getaway driver waiting for his crew in a Miami bank. Following a brief car chase, the driver reveals himself as Special Agent Castillo (Michael Peña) of the FBI. He then arrests the criminal crew who killed his former partner. During the arrest, Castillo fires his service weapon through his partner's, Special Agent Clay Allen's (Adam Brody), shoulder. He then proceeded to show a naked photo of the criminal's wife to prove Castillo's affair with her. Meanwhile, at the training center for the California Highway Patrol, Jon Baker (Dax Shepard) is a trainee who is awaiting his final exam to graduate. Failing a series of simple tests, he is placed at the desk of CHP Sergeant Gail Hernandez (Maya Rudolph) for a final interview and decision. Hernandez acknowledges his ability to "ride" a motorcycle better than the majority of the cadets she trained. She grants him probationary approval to graduate pending a performance review based on Citations, Arrests and Good overall evaluations from Superiors..
- Jon Baker (Shepard) and Frank Ponch Poncherello (Peña) have just joined the California Highway Patrol (CHP) in Los Angeles, but for very different reasons. Baker is a beaten-up former pro motorbiker trying to put his life and marriage back together. Poncherello is a cocky undercover Federal agent investigating a multi-million dollar heist that may be an inside-job inside the CHP. The inexperienced rookie and the hardened pro are teamed together, but clash more than click, so kick-starting a real partnership is easier said than done. But with Baker's unique bike skills and Ponch's street savvy it might just work...if they don't drive each other crazy first.—Warner Bros.
- The driver in a robbery reveals himself to be an undercover FBI agent named Castillo, and he arrests the criminal who killed his partner a few years ago. Meanwhile, at the training center for the California Highway Patrol, an older rookie motorcycle officer named Jon Baker (Dax Shepard) is being allowed to graduate on a probationary basis. He is a former freestyle motocross racer beginning a new career after his body has been left damaged by his sport. He is on a regimen of pain killers and is living in the guest house, after he and his wife separated when he lost his sponsors. The evaluating officer decides to take sympathy on Baker's sob story and gives him a second chance to succeed, but he has to finish in the top 10 of his class to keep his job. The FBI agent, now undercover as Frank (Ponch) Poncherello (Michael Peña), is sent to the CHP after an armored car robbery, which makes it apparent that there are corrupt cops working in the department (a police car blocked the freeway on which the armored car was travelling, making it easier for the robbers). He is partnered with the rookie Baker, who will be too inexperienced to understand the corruption investigation Ponch will be leading, but can ride a bike (since the robbers are on bikes, Frank's boss thinks Baker can help get undercover quickly).
Frank is constantly irritated by the over active Baker, who keeps writing tickets for minor traffic offenses (as he wants to finish in the top 10). Frank does not want to attract attention and Baker is making it difficult to maintain a low profile. The corrupt officers are seen being led by Lt. Ray Kurtz (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is stealing the money from armored cars to get his heroin-addicted son out of Los Angeles. Ponch argues with his new partner over whether Baker's wife is unfaithful, while Baker gives Ponch unsolicited advice on what he perceives to be a sex addiction.
Ponch insults Baker and later Baker saves his life when they are pursuing the robbery suspects. Baker wakes up on a wet morning with pain all over his body and with medication quite a distance away. He has no option but to call Ponch for help. They have a moment together and Ponch reveals to Baker that Ponch is FBI investigating the armored car robberies. They start investigating together, interviewing the widow of the dead police chopper pilot who jumped from his chopper (when asked to by the robber) when the armored car van guard was held captive. The widow reveals that the pilot was gay and the guard was his boyfriend. So the chopper pilot was dating the guard and somehow the robber knew that. This confirms the suspicion that it was an inside job. One witness overhead one robber say LT, which means lieutenant.
Ponch & Baker are convinced that Ray is the man behind the robberies. Ponch confronts Ray, but doesn't have any evidence. He gets a call from his boss who informs him that a parallel investigating is underway by another agent, who is tracking the marked bills from one of the robberies and has the money being traced to a drug dealer's house. The house is under surveillance, but Ponch and Baker show up and the suspect (ray's son, who is using the marked bills to buy drugs) tries to escape. Ponch is fired from the FBI when the suspect is killed during the chase. Bakes is seriously injured during the chase (Ray was made aware of the chase by his accomplices, so he took his hummer to rescue his son, but was enraged by seeing him dead and rammed his car into Baker). Baker is hospitalized and his wife does not visit him once. Upon release, Poncho drops him home, only for Baker to see that his wife has sold the home.
However, he is sworn into the CHP when he and Baker identify the dead suspect as Ray Kurtz' son. Kurtz sets a trap for them by kidnapping Baker's wife. Baker knows it is a trap but persuades Ponch to go anyway, despite the fact that his wife has just sold their home without his approval. After successfully rounding up the gang of corrupt officers and killing Kurtz, Ponch decides to remain in the CHP.
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