The summer of 1954. Boxer Frank Madison, 19, believes that he finally has escaped the seamy roots, smothering poverty and emotional difficulties from his youthful years in a drab, decaying Brooklyn neighborhood.

While others from The Neighborhood use "any" method to deal with a dungeon-like existence there, Madison has found his own antidote: boxing.

A 1952 Olympic middleweight gold medal, and an impressive start as a professional, have propelled Madison. As a growing light-heavyweight, he is regarded as a "real comer." Finally, life seems good.

Then, that summer of '54, Madison's life is turned upside-down. At Greenwod Lake, where he is training in the verdant Rampo Mountains of New York State, Madison-by a capricious quirk of fate-meets stunning, charismatic Paula Weisman.

Madison had started to believe that he could handle most anything inside the ring. But now, the startled young fighter finds that he is thoroughly unprepared for the new and unexpected tangle of events-and emotional challenges-presented by Weisman.

For all her vivacious, free-spirited attitude, the 17-year-old Paula nonetheless has her own burning ambition. She wants to be not only an actress.but a Star. And she will let nothing or no one-including Madison-stand in her way