A silver Volkswagen pulls up at a fuel station. Jack Hammond gets out, enters the shop and puts a candy bar in his back pocket. Two policemen enter the shop. There is a report of a stolen vehicle over the policeman's radio, a silver Volkswagen. Jack freaks out. He grabs hold of a woman and holds the candy bar to her back. The policemen and the cashier think he's holding a gun. Jack orders the policemen to put their hands in the air. He orders the cashier to take the policemen's guns and put them in his back pockets. He orders the three people to lie face down on the ground while he leaves the shop, taking the woman with him. A gun slips out of Jack's pocket and goes off, blasting a hole in a drink machine. Jack orders the woman to take him to her red BMW, orders her into the car, gets in the car himself and drives off. Police officers are inside a police car. There is a report over the radio: "All units respond to a hijacked red BMW 1993, male Caucasian armed and very dangerous holding female hostage."Jack says he'll let the woman go as soon as it's safe. Right now, she needs to be his little insurance policy. The woman takes the car's cigarette lighter and holds it up to Jack's neck, burning him. A police car starts chasing the BMW. A police officer requests backup over the radio. Another police officer is recording the event from the back seat of the car. The woman pulls the lighter off Jack's neck. The lighter falls onto the seat of the car. The woman says she didn't mean to burn Jack's neck. The lighter is now burning the seat, giving off smoke. The woman throws the lighter out the window. Jack said to keep the lighter from burning him, not throw it out the window. Another police car joins the chase. The woman says she's going to throw up. Jack tells her to stick her head out the window. Vomit sprays over the police car's windscreen. The windscreen wipers are turned on and the police car nearly crashes head on with a lorry coming the other way.The police have a positive ID on the red BMW. It's registered to Natalie Voss. She's the young lady hostage. She's Dalton Voss's daughter. Dalton Voss is a billionaire. Jack says they're heading to Mexico. The chase is taken onto the freeway. Three police cars are in pursuit. A cameraman is recording the event from a news reporting helicopter. Jack's speeding and swerving between the cars causes a medical truck to swerve and swing from side to side. The shutter on the back opens. Dead bodies spill out onto the road. A body falls on the police car's windscreen. The police officer yells to the other to get that dead body off. It scares them and it stinks. Jack says they're going to be travelling for a while so he thinks they should get better acquainted. He says there are no rules on how to kidnap people. There's no rule saying you can't be cordial and nice. The woman says her name is Natalie Voss.Jack says he didn't intend to kidnap anyone, he didn't plan anything. Dalton Voss has entered the police station. The police look at the footage from the camera in the shop. They get a good look at the man's face. They identify him as Jack Hammond, escaped while being transferred from San Francisco County Jail San Quentin, after being sentenced for 1991 armed bank robbery. A police officer inside a police car is holding a shotgun. This police car drives alongside the BMW. Jack holds the policeman's gun out the window. The BMW drives over a rock. The gun goes off and shoots out the police car's tire. The police car swerves and flips over on the road, causing a bus to crash sideways off the road. Jack says he didn't mean to do that. The gun just went off. He didn't mean to shoot him. Natalie says: "Well what were you gonna do, squirt water at him?"Jack says he hates violence. "There's a difference in being violent and being driven to violence. I am not a violent man. I was convicted of a crime I did not commit. The system does not believe me."The car phone rings. Jack presses the send button to answer. Dalton asks Jack how much money he wants for his daughter. He offers fifty thousand dollars. Jack responds "Fifteen thousand dollars? That's all your daughter's worth to you? You're a billionaire, that's pathetic."Dalton offers a hundred thousand dollars. "What the hell do you want? An airplane?"Jack does not want Dalton's money or his planes. Natalie says that her stepmother is not her mother. Dalton does not want Natalie to bring this up. "Don't you smart mouth me young lady. I've tried to give you everything you want."Jack says "Your daughter is going through a crisis right now and does not need to be berated like this. Who talks to their daughter that way? You ought to be ashamed of yourself. She's obviously fallen into an unfortunate situation here and could use just a little bit of compassion." Jack ends the phone call. He says that Dalton is a dickhead. More police cars and two police motorcycles have joined the chase. Jack says that everybody wants something from Dalton, including Natalie. She wants respect, to be treated like a human being, like a woman, not like some little baby girl which is obviously how Dalton still sees her. Natalie says that her stepmother married Dalton for his money, but Dalton is too stupid to notice. The stepmother tries to control everything and everybody. Jack asks about Natalie's real mother. Natalie's real mother would rather be her best friend than her mother. Ari Josephson, Jack's attorney wants to talk to Jack. He says Jack will listen to him. The car phone rings. Ari says "This is not the way to beat the system. Besides the system, play the system, work the system but don't screw the system because the system's gonna screw you more."Jack massaged the system. He did everything right. Where did that get him? San Quentin. Does the lawyer want him to sit around and rot for the next twenty-five years while he comes up with a better idea? Now Jack is a kidnapper. He's probably looking at life. Ari says "Why don't you just let the girl out? Nobody's gonna hurt you if you just give yourself up. Come back, we'll talk, we'll figure something else out. Maybe we can get the public behind you. Public outcry against the justice is a very powerful tool."Jack says the public would recognize him as the red nose robber who has kidnapped the richest girl in the country. Ari says "Mexico isn't the answer. You're innocent, we'll get a retrial. You'll eventually get out, so just stop the damn car and give yourself up before it's too late."Jack just wants to say thanks for everything. Ari believed in him. Ari still believes in Jack. He's still working hard. They can beat this thing together. Ari can get Jack out. Jack says he's already out. He ends the phone call.The car phone rings. A reporter on channel nine hardcore news live asks Jack a question which is on the minds of all the viewers. What does Jack intend to do when the car runs out of gas? Jack responds "That's the question that's on the minds of all your viewers? Whether I run out of gas or not? You let your viewers know that I hope Miss Voss's fear and my desperation are entertainment enough for them. After all that's what this is all about right? What makes for good television? The story. As it breaks. Live. Coming to you from the bad guy himself? I mean we wouldn't want your viewers to change the fucking channel, would we?" He rips the car phone off the car so he can't receive any more incoming calls.People are setting up a hopefully impenetrable barrier on the border into Mexico, with police cars and plows. Jack says a guy dressed as a clown robbed a bank. The same jerk had knocked off several banks in a clown outfit. The media and all their originality picked up on this and labeled him the red nose robber. The police arrested Jack. The only job Jack could get was playing a clown at children's birthday parties. One of the neighbors saw the story on the news and called the police. The police got a search warrant. They crashed down the door and found Jack's costume. It was all over. Two men in a green monster truck quickly swerve the truck across the road in an attempt to crash the BMW. The swerving truck crashes onto its side. Some police cars swerve and crash as a result. Jack comes to traffic at a standstill. A lorry crashes into the green truck and pushes it further along the road. The lorry's trailer turns onto its side. Jack drives backwards up the road and then drives forwards on the wrong side of the road to get past the traffic. The two men flee from the green truck and the truck explodes.A reporter asks Ari if Jack is innocent, why was he found guilty beyond reasonable doubt by a jury? Ari says "The actual thief cut his hand on the teller's paper spinner. A sample of that dried blood was taken and tested and compared with a sample of my client's blood. Jack's blood is type B positive. The red nose robber's blood is type A. But because the evidence was collected improperly from a crime scene, it was deemed inadmissible in court."Jack is twenty-eight years old. He has a lot of good years ahead of him. He's not going to waste them away in a prison. The system has rules, presidents and procedures and legal loopholes, all this crap that's more important than a human being. Jack was sentenced yesterday. This is why he ran. This is why he stole the car. And this is why he freaked out when he saw the police and kidnapped Natalie. The police officer recording the event has to change microphones. He has to fix the mic. He gets over the seat and obstructs the driver's vision, causing the police car to swerve. The three police officers get him back into the back seat. A news reporting van drives alongside the BMW. The reporter shouts if Natalie can give them a thumbs up if she's okay. Jack holds his middle finger up at the window. The driver swerves the van to avoid crashing into a blue car on the road. The cameraman drops the camera which smashes to pieces on the road. A TV host apologizes to the viewers for that obscene gesture they just saw. Jack reveals the gun was a candy bar. He kidnapped Natalie with a candy bar.Dalton wants to be taken to the barricade on the Mexican border. A reporter is talking with the drivers of the green monster truck. She asks what possessed them to take such radical and desperate measures to stop the BMW themselves. One of the men replies: "We're just doing our duty as Americans."The other man says: "It's not the first time we had to take matters into our own hands. Mark my words, they'll be pullin' over soon."The men said they really scared them, and they'll be happy to tell anyone about it. The men are put inside a police car. Natalie is falling in love with Jack. They're all cuddling and kissing. The sky has got dark. Lots of police cars are in pursuit. Natalie says she is Jack's insurance policy. "As long as I'm your hostage, they can't get to you. You can demand a ransom from my father, we'll take the money, we'll escape to Mexico."Jack says "Maybe Mexico ain't such a hot idea. We'll have to wait in line at the border while they check the trunk for legal fruit."Natalie says she is Jack's hostage. There's no way the police can think they're in this together. Jack notices there are no more cars on the road. They see and approach the barricade. "Do something!" cries Natalie."Like what?" says Jack. Jack drives backwards up the road. He speeds through the gap of two police cars. He swerves the car round and drives forwards. Police cars swerve to the left and the right. A police car crashes into another police car. Jack swerves the car round again and drives forwards. Another police car crashes. There's an explosion. The police car is thrown through the air and flips over on the road. Jack crashes through a wooden "El Jibarito" advertising board and takes the car off road. The police cars chase after. Jack leads the line of pursuing vehicles in a circle. Jack parks the car. He tells Natalie "It's over. I can't let you ruin your life because of me. I think it's time for you to go home now. Now I'm a car thief and a kidnapper, cop shooter, police evader. I can't do this to you. I can't make you part of this anymore. Besides I can't hold you hostage anymore. You ate the gun."Natalie says Jack has the real gun. Jack puts the policeman's gun in Natalie's bag. Natalie says Jack is innocent. Jack thanks Natalie for believing in him. Natalie gets out the car. There are flashback scenes of what has happened in the movie. Jack gets out of the car and throws a cigarette to the ground. He holds out his finger from behind his back and the police shoot at him. Jack wakes up. This part of the movie was a dream. He gets out of the car for real this time with his hands in the air. He turns around and puts his hands on his head. The police surround Jack and put handcuffs on him. Dalton Voss arrives in a helicopter. He smacks Jack across his face despite his apology. Natalie tells her father that Jack is innocent."Later," Dalton says. Natalie fires the gun up in the air to get everyone's attention. She holds the gun to a police officer's head. She threatens to blow his brains out over live TV. She shoots at the helicopter which explodes to show she means business. In this movie, people do as they are told when someone's life is at risk. Jack's handcuffs are removed. Everyone steps away from Jack. Natalie orders the cameraman out of the news reporting helicopter. Ari is laughing at what he's seeing on the TV. Jack and Natalie get inside the helicopter. Natalie orders the pilot at gunpoint to fly off. Jack and Natalie are enjoying themselves on a beach in Mexico.There is a scene shown after the credits. A person dressed as a clown is driving a car. He says "You smell that? Nothing else in the world smells like that son. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one day we had a hell bomb. And when I walked out, we didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. But that smell, that gasoline smell, the whole hill, it smelt like victory."