At twenty-six, Dom Contreras has already spent a decade jobbing through the minor leagues of professional wrestling as Hack Barlow, a three-hundred-pound axe-swinging lumberjack. As his body breaks down and his star power fades, he must invent a new gimmick before he loses the only job he's ever known. Meanwhile, Dom's seventeen-year-old sister Pilar is eager to make her own pro wrestling debut. Dom is determined to keep Pilar under his wing, away from the predators of a business infamous for eating its young. At the same time, he has a vision for her meteoric rise to the top—all the way to stardom (and a big payday) in the WWE. The siblings are close, spending much of their time in Dom's ancient Honda Civic en route to shows across the south, but as Dom craves privacy and Pilar reckons with her brother's conflicting roles of roommate, father figure, manager, and coach, their relationship begins to fray.

After Dom loses his temper in a match and Pilar injures herself preparing for her big tryout, Bonnie Blue, the eccentric owner of MCCW, spots an opportunity. She is poised to unveil her life's handiwork: an underground, guerrilla-style pro wrestling network with bouts climaxing in real, premeditated injury. To save his career—and his sister's hopes of breaking out—Dom must become Bonnie's new star and take on the one persona he swore he'd never embrace.