Axel has spent all his adult life angry, and most of it drunk. If he cannot find a way without alcohol to defuse the rage, it will overwhelm and drown him.

On a whim after momentarily getting sober, Axel joins a boxing gym. There he finds release, a welcoming family, and a sense of purpose that he has not felt in a very long time. Returning to his first love, chess, he decides to bring these two pursuits together into the crazy world of chess boxing, a biathlon of alternating rounds of boxing and speed chess.

The chess boxing bouts strain Axel to his physical and mental limits. Will he find peace battling the added adversity? And can he begin a new, hopeful life?