Gil Davison is the coach of an amateur baseball team in Michigan, national finalists many times over but champions never. He has spent his adult life juggling his roles as coach to the team, father to his estranged son, and caretaker to his own disapproving father - a man disdainful of Gil's passion for the game. Now, in this one season, Gil's star pitcher is losing his arm, his son has made it clear that he is doing just fine without him, and his father is dying of cancer.

So when a hot rookie hitter wanders into town - fresh from a stint in prison and determined to make a clean start - Gil convinces himself that this season his team must win the championship, their one last chance to fulfill a long-standing dream. But the events that unfold are unexpected, enlightening, and overwhelmingly powerful - and they will change each of these men forever.