Chinatown............coast to coast..........man oh man.........

Plot[edit]

The film has a nonlinear narrative. It contains numerous flash-forward and flashback cuts, indicated with an overlaid digital clock showing the time advancing rapidly forward/backward to the next scene. In chronological order:

Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a disenchanted Columbia Law School graduate who has put off taking the bar exam because he could not bear to enter the humdrum life of the legal profession. He finds meaning and purpose in being employed as a thrill-seeking New York City bicycle messenger despite arguments with his girlfriend and fellow bike messenger, Vanessa (Dania Ramirez), who insists that he should make something of himself.

Vanessa's roommate, Nima (Jamie Chung), has asked Vanessa to move out for a personal reason she doesn't disclose. Vanessa is in the process of packing her few belongings. Nima delivers $50,000 that she has saved for two years to Mr. Leung (Henry O), a Chinese hawaladar, in exchange for a ticket that she must deliver to Sister Chen, buying a place for Nima's son and mother in one of Sister Chen's ships on whichgangs smuggle people from China to the United States.

Mr. Lin, a local loan shark, has learned of the ticket and that whoever returns it to Mr. Leung can collect Nima's money. He approaches Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon), a gambling-addicted NYPD detective who owes him money, offering to clear Monday's debt if Monday gets him the ticket. Monday begins searching for Nima, who decides to hire Wilee to deliver the envelope with the ticket to Sister Chen by 7 pm after Nima is told by Leung that anyone who knew she was visiting him is a loose end which could cause her to be in possible danger if she tries to deliver the ticket herself. Wilee and Nima conduct their transaction at the college where Nima is a student. After Wilee leaves, Nima is confronted by Monday, who sees the courier receipt Wilee gave her. He is able to steal the receipt from Nima. After Monday leaves, Vanessa finds Nima, and learns the contents of the envelope.

Monday catches up with Wilee before he leaves the college campus, stating that he is a college official, that Nima had no authority to handle the contents of the envelope on the college's behalf, and that he would like the envelope back, with the receipt Wilee gave to Nima in his hands. Wilee refuses. He is able to escape, with Monday in pursuit. Wilee heads to the police station to report Monday, only to find out he's a police detective. Wilee hides in the bathroom, where he opens the envelope and finds the ticket.

After he escapes the station, Wilee angrily tells his dispatcher, Raj (Aasif Mandvi), that he is returning the package so that someone else can drop it off. Returning to Nima's college, Wilee leaves the envelope, which is picked up by his rival, Manny (Wolé Parks). Before Manny picks it up, however, Monday calls the dispatch to redirect the delivery to a different address.

As he is about to leave the college after returning the envelope, Wilee runs into Nima. He confronts her about the ticket, and she reveals the truth. Guilt-ridden, Wilee tries to catch up to Manny, who refuses to give Wilee his drop. They race each other and in the process, are chased by a bike cop who had earlier tried to arrest Wilee. As they approach Monday's location, the bike cop tackles Manny off his bike and arrests him. Vanessa, who learns of Monday's trickery and races over to warn Manny, appears, grabs Manny's bag and gives it to Wilee.

As they are about to escape, Wilee is hit by an oncoming taxi. He falls to the ground fracturing some ribs in the process. He is put in an ambulance with Monday, while his damaged bike is taken to an impound lot, with the envelope hidden in the handlebars. Monday tortures Wilee by pressing on his injured ribs, and Wilee offers to give Monday the envelope in exchange for his bike.

Wilee tells Monday that the envelope is in Manny's bag, and Monday leaves to search it, while Wilee meets with Vanessa in the impound lot. She gives him the envelope, which she had retrieved, and he escapes on a stolen bike. Monday, realizing Wilee has tricked him, pursues Wilee to Sister Chen's place. Meanwhile, Nima calls Mr. Leung for help. He deploys his enforcer, the Sudoku Man, to help her.

As Wilee reaches Chinatown, he is confronted by Monday, who is threatening to kill him. However, Vanessa arrives with a flash mob of messengers, dispatched by Raj, who delay Monday by hitting him numerous times, giving Wilee time to deliver the ticket to Sister Chen just before the stroke of 7 pm. She calls the captain of her ship and tells him to allow Nima's family aboard. Outside, Monday is confronted by the Sudoku Man, who shoots Monday in the back of his head with a silenced pistol. Dying and feeling faint, Monday tries to get in his car saying that he just wants to think for a second, but dies before he can do so. Nima's mother calls her and confirms that she and Nima's son have gotten on the ship. Nima meets with Wilee and Vanessa while they are finally reunited again.