Boxers train in a gym. Outside in the street, the trainer, Roy, meets a man whose boy wants to train to be a pro. He is just out of jail for robbing a shop. He has just got a place of his own and used to be a top amateur. He is driven home to his basic room filled with boxing trophies by a fellow trainee, who advises him to get a job.

Ann, a woman in her forties, is getting ready to go out. Her son, Danny, has a fight date at the end of the month. She meets two men, one of whom says her younger son, Spanner, is hanging round with a dodgy bloke.

At the gym, Roy is angry because his son, Bobby, arrives late. He meets an older boxer, Johnny, who wants to make a come-back because he is broke. The trainer advises him that it's a waste of time but he offers to organise a benefit for him. The ex-boxer says he needs the money sooner than that.

Bobby meets the henchman of local gangster Frank Chalmers, to whom he owes money that he doesn't have. He organises a job for Bobby driving a getaway car, which Bobby reluctantly accepts.

After careful planning, the job goes OK. Bobby goes round to give Frank his money. Frank invites one of his porn actress girlfriends to do an erotic dance for Bobby. In the meantime, Spanner has robbed a house and now has a gun.

Roy receives a phone call to say that Bobby has been caught with drugs. Roy goes to see Frank to see if he can get Bobby off because he knows some corrupt policemen. Roy meets a Christian friend in a cemetery who tells him that Frank is a bad lot and that he knew someone who went to prison because Frank planted drugs on him. But he says that violence is not the answer. Bobby is released and Roy picks him up.

Ann telephones Spanner's father to find out where he is. The father accuses her of being a bad mother. Danny comes back from searching for him, but Ann complains that he hasn't tried hard enough. She turns to Roy, who promises to sort it out.

Roy and his friends plan an armed confrontation with Frank, as he and his girlfriend look round a gym they have just bought with the intention of turning it into a fashionablenightclub. Roy says he doesn't want Bobby in the drugs business and that Frank has to get out of his life. Frank retorts that it's too late, as Bobby is already on the payroll and he has a porn tape with Bobby in it. Roy pulls a gun, but then hits Frank.

In the boxing hall the tension rises. The audience arrives. Frank is shot getting out of his car. After the fight, everyone is laughing and joking. The hospital phones to say Frank will survive. Although he pretends everything is alright, Roy remains worried.