The protagonist, Alfred Brooks is hanging out with his best friend, James, and James's friends Major and Hollis. The three of them want to break into the Epsteins' grocery store where Alfred works. Although Alfred does not go with them, he forgets about the new alarm system that the Epsteins just installed. James gets caught by the police, and later that night, Major and Hollis beat Alfred up. A man from the neighborhood, Henry, takes Alfred home. Henry mentions that he has been working for Mr. Donatelli, who owns a gym where he trains some famous boxers. Alfred goes to check out the gym and tells Mr. Donatelli that he wants to be special-he wants to be a champion. Donatelli tells him that first, he has to be a contender-someone for whom it is in the realm of possibility to be a champion.
             The next night, Henry, Spoon, Jelly Belly, and Mr. Donatelli take Alfred to a boxing match at Madison Square Garden. Mr. Donatelli's most promising boxer, Willie Streeter, is competing in an important match. During the match, Streeter gets hurt, and Donatelli eventually concedes. Although Streeter is angry, Spoon says that Donatelli is the best manager around.
             Alfred begins training for boxing. He runs, eats, and sleeps exactly in the way Mr. Donatelli prescribes. After six weeks of very hard work, Alfred becomes discouraged because he has never been in a real fight-he has only trained, exercised, and hit punching bags. Succumbing to his frustration and to his loneliness in having been separated from James, Alfred goes to a party thrown by Major, partially because of a promise that James would be there. Alfred resists the drugs and alcohol at first, but then he indulges. Eventually, James shows up but Alfred barely gets to speak to him-James is more interested in the heroin that Major offers him.
             Alfred goes to Coney Island with Major the next day, narrowly missing a run-in with the police for Major's possession of a stolen car. The next f...