As the Great Depression grinds on, Chaney, a roughhewn hobo, jumps off a train boxcar, walks into town and discovers a bare-knuckle fight club. “Speed,” a slick low level fight promoter, watches his man get brutally beaten. Later, as Speed eats oysters in a restaurant, Chaney offers to fight for him, but Speed thinks that Chaney is too old. To prove his worth, Chaney gives Speed his last six dollars and tells him to bet it on him. They go back to the club, and Cheney knocks out his opponent with one punch. Chaney and Speed take a train to New Orleans, where Speed’s fiancé, Gayleen Schoonover, is waiting. Chaney refuses Speed’s invitation to move in with him, and instead rents a rundown hotel room. That night, Chaney meets Lucy Simpson, a convict’s wife, buys her coffee and walks her home, but she turns down his offer to accompany her inside. The next day, Chaney makes a deal with Speed to represent him, but insists that when he has made enough money, he is leaving. Speed takes Chaney to a river barge to watch Jim Henry, the no-holds-barred champion of New Orleans, who kicks, punches and head butts his opponent into a bloody pulp. Henry receives a cue from his elegantly dressed promoter, Chick Gandil, and lets the other fighter fall. Later, Speed introduces Chaney to Poe, who explains that he has two years of medical training and was thrown out of school due to opium addiction. Chaney agrees to hire Poe as his cut man. Next, Speed borrows a thousand dollars from Le Beau, a ruthless loan shark, who charges him fifty dollars a day interest. Speed then tries to trick Chick Gandil into letting Chaney fight Jim Henry at three to one odds, but Gandil will not take the bet for less than three thousand. To raise more money, Speed drives Chaney, Poe and Gayleen to a small fair in the bayou where they meet Pettibon, a backwoods promoter. After a huge barbeque, Chaney makes short work of Pettibon’s boy. Pettibon accuses him of being a ringer and refuses to pay. When Speed protests, Pettibon’s men pull their guns. Chaney drags Speed back to the car, then tells him to drive around until dark. That night, Chaney walks into Pettibon’s bar and catches his gunmen by surprise, beats them up, takes their guns and demands Pettibon pay up. Pettibon calls his bluff, and Chaney pistol-whips him. After collecting his winnings, Chaney empties the pistols by shooting up the bar. In the morning, Speed drops Chaney off at Gayleen’s. Chaney offers to buy her breakfast, but she invites him in for coffee. Later, at a restaurant, Chaney informs Gayleen he is only temporarily a fighter. Meanwhile, Speed and Poe crash a swanky black tie affair to make the bet with Gandil. The next day, Doty, Le Beau’s enforcer, corners Speed and demands his money. After a little arm-twisting, Speed promises Doty he will be paid in two days. The night of the fight, Speed, Chaney and Poe walk into a warehouse full of screaming men. The “ring” is a wire-fenced cage with barbed wire on top. The two fighters square off and, after trading blows for five minutes, Chaney opens up and beats Jim Henry to his knees. After the fight, instead of paying Doty back, Speed loses his share of the winnings playing craps. The next day, Gandil offers five thousand to buy half interest in Chaney, but Chaney refuses. That night, Doty appears with a hired thug, smashes Speed’s car with a sledgehammer, and suggests Speed pay up soon. The next day, Speed tries to pressure Chaney into taking up Gandil’s proposition, but Chaney quits instead. He goes to see Gayleen, but when he refuses to spend the night they have an argument, and Chaney leaves. Meanwhile, Gandil imports a ruthless fighter named “Street,” but Chaney refuses the fight saying he has enough money to quit the sport. That night Speed is kidnapped and brought to Le Beau’s place where he finds Gandil has paid the interest for Speed’s loan for the week. He guarantees to pay the principal if Chaney will fight. Speed explains that his fighter has quit, but Gandil thinks Chaney will change his mind if Speed is in danger. Poe goes to Chaney’s hotel and begs him to save Speed, but Chaney refuses to put up his own money for a wager. Instead, he goes to Gayleen’s, but learns she has met another man with a steady job and does not want to see him. That night, Chaney shows up at Gandil’s warehouse. When Chancy shows Gandil, Speed and Henry his money, Speed is shocked when he realizes Chancy is not only going to fight, but is betting his life’s savings. The fighters are closely matched. Twice Chaney goes to the floor and gets up, and in a series of vicious blows, Chaney brings Street to his knees. Gandil pulls out two metal bars and screams for Street to use them, but Street throws them away and comes in swinging. Chaney lets go with a flurry of punches and Street hits the floor and stays down. After collecting the winnings, Speed pays off Le Beau, gets in his car with Chaney and Poe, and drives to the outskirts of town. Chaney hands Poe and Speed rolls of money, then turns to walk away, but Speed stops him and says they should say something. Chaney smiles and wanders into the night.