Crime 101

In Los Angeles, Mike Davis is an elusive and disciplined jewel thief, carefully planning robberies to avoid violence and DNA evidence while escaping via U.S. Route 101. Intercepting a diamond delivery carrying decoys, he steals $3 million in genuine diamonds, but is shaken after being grazed by an unexpected bullet. He calls off a planned robbery in Santa Barbara, but his fence, Money, enlists volatile young biker Ormon instead.

LAPD Detective Lou Lubesnick links the diamond theft to Mike's string of unsolved robberies and suggests a lone suspect is responsible, but his theory is dismissed. Preparing another heist, Mike pays Devon, a hacker, for information on Sharon, a high-end insurance broker. Long undervalued by her firm, Sharon is further frustrated when a new colleague closes a lucrative deal with the wealthy Steven Monroe. After Ormon violently carries out the Santa Barbara job, Mike cuts ties with Money, who directs Ormon to intercept Mike's next heist.

The lonely Mike strikes up a romance with a stranger, Maya, after she rear-ends his car. He realizes he is being tracked by Ormon, who threatens Devon into revealing that Sharon is connected to Mike's plan. Sharon rejects Mike's attempt to recruit her as an accomplice, and Mike spots Ormon, confronting him after a high-speed chase; realizing he has been sent by Money, Mike warns Ormon to stay away. Separating from his unfaithful wife, Lou finds himself joining Sharon's yoga class. He discovers the car Mike used in the diamond robbery, and a trace of blood inside matches Mike's juvenile record with his birth name, James.

Denied a promotion yet again, Sharon agrees to help Mike. Demanding a $3 million share, she provides inside information on an illicit diamond purchase Monroe has arranged to make with $5.5 million in cash, for his upcoming wedding at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Lou is suspended for refusing to help cover up the police shooting of another jewel thief, but continues his investigation and tracks down Mike's foster mother. Ormon viciously interrogates Sharon, who turns to Lou for help and admits everything, and quits her job after excoriating her boss. Wary of Mike's secretive nature, Maya ends their relationship after he reveals he will be leaving town.

The briefcase of diamonds arrives with a courier and Mike takes the place of his security guard, unaware Lou is posing as the courier himself. Driving to the hotel, the two of them deliver the briefcase to Monroe and his fiancée in the wedding suite. Mike seizes the cash at gunpoint, but Lou retrieves a gun from the case and reveals himself as a police officer. Their standoff is interrupted by Ormon, disguised as a hotel employee. Demanding the case, he shoots and wounds Monroe, but Mike kills Ormon before he can shoot Lou. Allowing Mike to escape empty-handed, Lou uses knowledge of financial crimes Monroe has committed to force Monroe and his fiancée to support his story as he frames Ormon for Mike's robberies.

Having stolen the decoy gems taken into evidence from Mike's earlier heist, Lou swaps them with real diamonds from the briefcase, which he gives to Sharon to start a new life. He discovers Mike has left him his vintage Chevy Camaro, and Mike sends Maya a childhood photo, asking her for a second chance.