The team breaks into a bank vault in San Francisco's Chinatown. Changing the plan at the last moment, Nick permits them to take a large stack of cash in addition to the bearer bonds they were there to find. While they are in the vault, Nick gets a phone call from his wife, telling him that her daughter, Tammi, is at the police station. Nick says they will discuss the situation later. Outside the bank, Izzy, who is in charge of bypassing security, loses focus and allows the bank's alarm to sound. Hearing the alarm, Vincent, a Chinese mobster, spots Nick leaving the bank. After the getaway, Nick tells Izzy he is out of the crew until he can quit the drug habit that caused his mistake.

Arriving at Roselyn's house with the take from the robbery, Nick is told that the money belongs to the Chinese mob and will have to be returned. Unbeknownst to them, the Chinese mob is not content with the return of the money, and Vincent is sent to find and kill the members of the team. The crew is extremely disappointed at having had to give up the money, and they urge Nick to find another heist to make up for the low earnings from the bank job. As they are discussing their plans, Nick gets a call that his wife has been in a car accident. She eventually dies at the hospital, leaving Nick to care for his stepdaughter.

Meanwhile, Detective Hayes of the New Orleans Police Department is under investigation by Internal Affairs. His wife is about to leave him, but he assures her he will come up with a way to make things right.

Nick presents his plan for the crew's next heist. The team will infiltrate an airplane to rob a U.S. Treasury shipment of $30 million. The plan is complicated and the timeframe is very short—they have only nineteen days to prepare.

After his wife's funeral, Nick and Tammi get into an argument about her living arrangements and her irresponsible father. During the argument, she lets Nick know that she saw him shoot Izzy. Nick lies and says Izzy went to the hospital and was fine, and is now back in Texas.

Realizing that Roselyn had information he needed written down in her notebook, Nick devises a plan to break into her house (which is now a crime scene). He finds her safe, cracks it, and retrieves her notebook. Using the information from Roselyn's notes, Nick contacts an airline employee who will help them sneak onto the plane, and a metal worker to build them a replica of the airplane's cargo bay. He also meets with Riley, an old associate, to ask him to help fund the plan. Since Ros is dead, Nick needs a new backer and someone to help launder the money after the heist. Although he is retired, Riley agrees. Plans are set in place for Gabo to acquire the cargo manifest, and for Elmo to gain access to the food service trucks.

Watching the news, Tammi sees a story about a body discovered in the bayou. She recognizes the victim as Izzy, and realizes that Nick has lied to her again.

Because of his slow progress, as well as concerns about his Parkinson's disease, Vincent is forced to pair up with the boss's nephew, Billy Kwan, who calls himself Shrimp Boy. Shrimp Boy is young and seemingly irresponsible, but murderously loyal to his uncle's crime syndicate. He is determined to find Nick and his crew.

The night before the plane heist, Detective Hayes confronts Nick and blackmails him for $1 million, half of the take from the Chinatown bank robbery. He is unaware of the plans for the new job, and tells Nick to have the money by the next day.

The following day, the team's airline contact smuggles Nick and Jack onto the plane inside food carts. Once in the air, they emerge from the carts, disable the service lift, and break into the cargo hold where the money is. A flight attendant finds that he is unable to access the lower hold, which raises the suspicions of a treasury agent on board. Nick and Jack cut through the treasury lock, move the money, and replace everything to avoid detection. They then go back inside the food carts to await landing.

Meanwhile, Gabo has been searching for Tammi, who has run away with her boyfriend. At Nick's house, he runs into Vincent and Shrimp Boy. After a shootout inside the house, Gabo is wounded but manages to escape.

When the plane lands, Nick, Jack, and the money are safely transported out of the plane. Elmo helps hijack the food truck, and the team is reunited to divide the money. Back on the plane, the treasury agent demands to check on the shipment of cash, and when his key does not fit the lock, his suspicions grow. He grounds the plane and contacts his superiors.

FBI Special Agent Paterson has been called in to investigate the plane heist. Tammi's father calls Nick to tell him that she bought a ticket to Hawaii but that he refuses to take her in if she makes the trip. Nick is forced to go to the airport to find her. Gabo is at Riley's house, trying to have the bullet removed from his stomach, but Riley is unable to do it. When Nick arrives to pick him up, he drops Tammi off for protection once again.

Meanwhile, the FBI finds a witness—the driver of the hijacked food truck—who identifies Elmo from a book of mug shots, and the man who made the cargo bay replica is also arrested.

Nick and the crew plan to hide the money in some classic cars and have them shipped out of town in a container. Elmo is worried about his family and wants to call his wife, but Nick tells him to get rid of his cellphone, and the crew decide they will sneak Elmo out with the cars.

The investigation leads the police to Riley, who is able to turn them away but decides he wants more money for his trouble; he is now holding Tammi hostage. The crew splits the money to make their separate escapes, and Nick trades his entire share to save Tammi.

Uncle Lao has arrived in New Orleans to claim Billy's body and, secretly, to kill Vincent for his failure. However, when the time comes, Vincent is faster on the draw and kills his boss first.