Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman) is the veteran player-coach of the Charleston Chiefs, a failing ice hockey team on the verge of being disbanded due to lack of support and finance. Dunlop's response to a long losing streak is to ask his players to throw the rulebook out of the window, and their new violent approach does lead to an upturn in fortunes. However, their Princeton-educated top scorer (Michael Ontkean) disapproves of the roughhouse tactics, resulting in a rift in the camp.