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 (Michael Pena), and he arrests the criminal who killed his partner a few years ago.
Meanwhile, at the training center for the California Highway Patrol (CHIP), 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 Sgt. Gail Hernandez (Maya Rudolph) 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. Gail notes that he can ride a motorcycle better than the majority of cadets she has trained
On a California highway, a crew of bikers attacks an armored van. One member of the bike gang, "LT", accuses the armored van guard and his CHP closet boyfriend TJ (the police chopper pilot) of stealing from him. As punishment, LT informs TJ over the police frequency that he must choose who lives; he or his boyfriend. TJ ultimately kills himself.In Miami, Castillo is informed that the CHP have requested the FBI's help in the armored van heist, believing that a corrupt police ring is involved.
The FBI agent Castilla, now undercover as Frank "Ponch" Poncherello (Michael Peña), is sent to the CHIP 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).Baker notes that there is not a single commendation, picture or other effects a helicopter pilot would have in the house and precisely identifies the bikes used in the heist as the Ducati Hypermotard 939.
The bike gang makes another attempt on an armored van. The crew evade Ponch and Baker on the faster Ducatis after a lengthy chase through Elysian Park. LT, wary of Ponch's extensive investigations into the heists, finds out from his FBI contacts that he is undercover.
Frank is constantly irritated by the overactive 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.Ponch argues with his new partner over whether Baker's wife Karen (Kristen Bell) is unfaithful, while Baker gives Ponch unsolicited advice on what he perceives to be a sex addiction.
The corrupt officers are 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 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.
Ponch also obtains a potential lead on an apartment TJ tenanted, concluding that TJ must have been corrupt as it would not have been affordable on his salary. Sensing that something is still amiss, Ponch and Baker re-visit TJ's home.The widow of the pilot 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. They later arrive on the profile of Lieutenant Raymond Kurtz and, although suspecting him, have no evidence to pin him to the heists.
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 Reed (Justin Chatwin), who is using the marked bills to buy drugs) tries to escape.
Baker 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.
Petersen (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) fires Ponch for disobeying his orders to stay far from the FBI's lead. Baker also discovers that his ex-wife Karen, who he had been living with, has sold the house while he was in hospital without telling him. At Ponch's, Baker identifies the decapitated biker as Raymond Reed Kurtz Jr, CHP Lieutenant Ray Kurtz's son, confirming their earlier suspicions.
Ray kidnaps Karen, holding her hostage at his safe house. Ponch and Baker rescue her as Officer Ava Perez (Rosa Salazar) arrives with back up but are attacked by Ray's associates. Ray shoots off three of Ponch's fingers, leaving him unable to return fire, so he instead must rely on Baker's poor aim to retaliate.
Altering his aim to compensate, Baker accidentally detonates an explosive device that incapacitates Ray and his remaining guards, who Perez and the other Officers arrest. Ray comes to but is reinforced by Officer Lindsey Taylor and then holds Baker at gunpoint. Ponch intervenes moments before Ray fires a shot into Baker's arm which ricochets off of a titanium implant and into Ray's head, killing him instantly.
Baker is loaded onto an ambulance to be treated for his injuries. Karen offers to join him in hospital; however, he finally realizes how little she cares for him and declines her offer. Ponch is given morphine by a paramedic.
A final scene shows Castillo receiving a call from Peterson, who offers him his job back at the FBI. He refuses, preferring to stay in the CHP.
