Set in a typically isolated rural community of North Cornwall in 1916 the film centres on a young Cornish wrestler, Jack Bryant.

Jack celebrates his eighteenth birthday, a date of double significance. He can enter this first ‘All-Weights' Wrestling Championship - an event for which his ex-champion father has trained him for a long time. At the same time, the conscription laws demand that he join the Army immediately.

Jack's boss, Mr. Merrith, a leading figure in the town promises to ‘arrange matters', so that Jack can stay on for the fight. . .