Source plot synopsis — includes the ending
The game's story and events take place in the fictional region of the Tri-City Bay, mainly during the daytime between sunrise and sunset. The region consists of four boroughs - Palm Harbor, a downtown city district; Port Crescent, an industrial port that also houses a naval base; Gold Coast Mountains, a mountainous region of observatories and wind farms; and Sunset Hills, a suburban town with rural farms - with each borough linked to the other by a series of highways. The region's design was heavily influenced by the real-life city of Miami, alongside locations visited by the development team across the Gulf Coast and California Coast, with the setting's open world map consisting of around 109 miles (175 km) of road.
In the Nintendo DS edition, the boroughs are named Metropolis, North Port Crescent, South Port Crescent and Riverton, while in the Wii and PlayStation 2 editions, the game's setting takes place within a carbon-copy of two boroughs taken from Most Wanted's setting leaving Beach borough.
Story
The player, an undercover police officer for the Tri-City Bay Police Department (TCBPD), is called in to Palm Harbor police station by their superior Lt. Jack Keller (Paul Pape). The player is informed that their current investigation into the region's underground street racing world is to be joined by Inspector Chase Linh (Maggie Q), a federal agent of the FBI, who wants to bring down an international criminal syndicate operating in the region that is involved in smuggling stolen cars. The player is instructed to pose as a new street racer and join in on major illegal street races, along with gaining infamy with the TCBPD, in order to secure entry into the syndicate. The player achieves this by being recruited into a gang that works with the syndicate, run by Hector Maio (Kurt Caceres) and his brother Zack (Joshua Alba). At the same time, they befriend Carmen Mendez (Christina Milian), a member of the gang. The brothers quickly assign the player to steal cars for them during their racing activities. Upon completing the jobs, Chase instructs the player to arrest the gang, including the brothers.
With Hector's gang out of action, the player is sent to Sunset Hills in order to get recruited by a crew operated by Gregory "GMAC" McDonald (David Rees Snell) - a former TCBPD police officer - Rose Largo (Heather Fox) - an honor student who turned to crime - and Brad "Nickel" Rogers (Lawrence B. Adisa) - a former boxer. Whilst conducting races along with jobs for the crew, the player is instructed by GMAC to steal a car from Chau Wu (Jack Yang), the Triad leader of the syndicate the player is investigating. When the player finds themselves confronted by Chau, he offers to overlook the theft in exchange for the player's help in recovering a car he lost that he needs back, believing it was stolen by GMAC's crew; a meeting with Carmen suggests the theft was likely committed by someone else. Eventually, the player is instructed to arrest GMAC and his crew, though is unable to locate the stolen car in their possession.
Shortly after arresting GMAC's crew, Carmen contacts the player and requests a meeting. Upon reaching her, she reveals that Zack and Hector unknowingly stole the missing car from Chau, and asks them to get rid of it for her. Chau quickly contacts the player the moment they take possession, and receive instructions to deliver it to a warehouse, learning that he knows them to be a police officer and that they have kidnapped Chase to coerce compliance from them. Upon delivering the car, Chase reveals herself to be a corrupt federal agent, who was working with Chau to recover the car as it possessed vital evidence of his activities and a sizeable quantity of cash, also revealing that the previous crews the player took down were then murdered by Chau Wu's Triad, framing the player for their murders. Before Chau can dispose of the player, Chase betrays him, murdering him and his henchman, before framing the player for all their murders while escaping with the money and evidence.
The player is forced to flee from the TCBPD upon being wanted for the killings, but finds support from Keller. On his instructions, they proceed to take down Chase before she can flee the region, as it is the only way to clear their name. After successfully arresting Chase, Keller commends the player for their hard work at recovering the evidence and managing to not forget themselves during their undercover work, informing them that Carmen made a plea bargain with him in exchange for her testimony against the arrested crews. Some time later, the player meets with Carmen to give them a ride to the local university where she is studying as a med student.
Sources and content license
Source and revision history ↗ · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Need for Speed: Undercover. Section headings and formatting adjusted. · Content license