Frank Martin puts the driving gloves on to deliver Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukranian government official, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he has to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina’s safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.

Once Frank and Valentina are out on the road, there’s a whole action movie’s worth of insanity that transpires not only in and around Frank’s vehicle, but in cross-cut flashes that drop in on the bad guys’ machinations back in France (as well as Inspector Tarconi’s cat-and-mouse detective’s games to uncover what they’re actually up to).

That part of the story doesn’t matter too much; it’s a big, sleazy government infiltration scheme aimed at strong-arming a sanctioned smuggling operation, which mainly just serves as Transporter 3’s necessary plot MacGuffin.

The main thing to note is that it all hinges on Frank making that high-stakes delivery… and that Frank and his new riding partner had better improvise a fast plan if they don’t want to become Johnson’s newest disposable servants just as soon as the job is done.