Jack Hammond stops at a gas station in Newport Beach, California, where he encounters two police officers and a young woman. The officers receive a car radio call that indicates the car Jack is driving is stolen, he panics and kidnaps the woman, holding a candy bar in his pocket such that she believes it is a gun. Fleeing in her car, Jack soon learns that his hostage is Natalie Voss, daughter of a millionaire industrialist. Two police officers pursue them in a squad car with a television crew filming a ''Cops (TV series)''-style reality television. The car chase moves onto southbound Interstate 5 in California as Jack decides to flee to Mexico.