Buddy, top trainer at a harness racing track, turns his job over to his younger brother Manx, whom he has been grooming for the position since he was quite young. It is just at the time the raceway is taken over by new owners, the LeRoy family. Its new name is Kingdom 4.
The story is an intertwining of the personalities, strengths, ailments, and lineages of the horses and the people connected to the track. Throughout, horses and people are drawn together in an allegorical and metaphorical way to clarify conflicts, and comment on conditions, on and off the track.