He has the looks, the skill, and the contract of a professional football hero. But Derek Brody, the new rookie quarterback for the New York Stars, is an athlete with an attitude, a prison record, and the most dangerous weapon of all: a mind of his own. From an owner drowning in red ink to his beautiful, promiscuous daughter, from a cutthroat personnel director from Vegas to a team of malcontents divided by escalating racial tensions, the New York Stars are the underdogs of professional football. But when a drug-addicted ex-quarterback is murdered, Derek Brody's caught in the middle of an erupting scandal that could do a lot more than throw the season. Suddenly Brody's taking on the Stars, the system, and an aspiring actress who's strangely uninterested in his fame and money. Then the starting QB goes down with an injury, and Brody challenges his frazzled coach to give him the ball. Defying a brash wide-out to start delivering on the field, he manages to stand up to every hit he takes - on and off the field. But with his own past rapidly catching up with him, it's going to take a lot more than winning odds to lead this team to victory. It's going to take everything Brody's got, in a game where the stakes are never less than life or death.