Jack Lawyer is a gifted athlete. Alan Dionne is not. They are friends because of shoes. Alan thinks they are the best he has ever worn, and Jack because the manufacturer pays him to play ball. To Alan, athletic competition is a noble endeavor: he believes in the Olympic Creed and that the most important thing is the trying. To Jack, playing ball is the ticket out of his decaying mill town home, and the path to the riches of a professional career...