The apocalypse happened, but no one knows how. What's left is a barren world ruled by a high-powered caste of bookies, The Odds. Scurrying around underneath is our hero, Eldridge—a big-hearted, bumbling drifter with an estranged family he loves dearly. He's deep in debt and deathly sick, so he places a bet predicting the day he'll die. If he wins, he can go to his grave knowing that his family will be safe, but when he returns to his hometown to collect, he gets some bad news: He's going to live. So it's on to plan B—a high-stakes battle-tournament that pits real-life chess avatars against each other in random-chance brawls-to-the-death. But Eldridge doesn't know that someone's gamed the tournament to pit him against an old friend who's now a bitter enemy.