A con-artist meets a tough fighter and sees him as her ticket to a better life. The two make an agreement and head off to New Orleans to arrange a match with "the man" - the mysterious king of bare-knuckled boxing. There are no rules for this fight...one man wins when the other dies.

Roo Marcus has just spent 8 years in a mental institution, and takes up bare-knuckle boxing and gets a job fighting in a gym run by Napoleon. Roo is often tormented by memories of shock treatment and inhumane conditions. His friends, Capser and Ratty help him along the way, until he gets brutally beaten up by one of Napoleon's fighters...