At thirty-five, Tommy Cochrane is a washed-up boxer who missed out on a shot at the title and has hung up his gloves for good after he's diagnosed with an aneurysm. Down on his luck, he and T-Bone Pike, his friend and former sparring partner, head to Toronto on a quest for the $5000 Tommy desperately needs to buy back his grandfather's farm.
Tommy and T-Bone encounter a city full of gamblers and old memories: Fat Ollie, who runs the weekly poker game on Queen Street; Herm Bell, a sharp kid on a run of bad luck; Tony Broad, a small-time hood with big-time ambitions; and Lee Charles, a sharp-witted and cynical torch singer who happens to be Tommy's ex-girlfriend. The five grand ultimately becomes available to a number of these people in a number of ways—all at great risk to Tommy and T-Bone.