Roy Munson was trained by his father from childhood to be the best bowler in the world. As a teenager, he manages to win the Iowa state amateur championship. Not long after this, Roy becomes a bowling hustler along with his partner Ernie McCracken. They soon go up against a group of ruffians who don't take kindly to being hustled by the pair and exact revenge by damaging Roy's bowling hand so badly that it has to be amputated leaving him with a rubber prosthetic. Being the coward that he is, Ernie runs away as Roy is being abused by the gang. No longer able to bowl as before, Roy becomes a traveling bowling equipment salesman. Eventually, he meets up with an Amish bowling prodigy named Ishmael and takes him under his wing as his manager and trainer. He manages, with difficulty, to convince Ishmael, against his conservative Amish sensibilities, to embark on a professional career. Eventually, they cross paths with Ernie McCracken at a championship bowling event that Ernie is favored to win. While Roy's career and life have landed in the toilet bowl, Ernie is still drawing huge crowds and all the babes. Ishmael injures his bowling hand just prior to the big tournament leaving it up to Roy to go up against Ernie at the big event and, hopefully, exact personnel revenge for leaving him to fend for himself against the gang they hustled years earlier. The championship match will determine whether Roy or Ernie is the best bowler.