It is 1940. The very first transport of detainees comes to the newly developed concentration camp Auschwitz. One of them is Tadeusz "Teddy" Pietrzykowski, pre-war boxing champ of Warsaw. The camp police officers force him to eliminate in the ring for his and other detainees' lives. However, his every win reinforces the hope that Nazis are not unyielding. Auschwitz policemans observe the growing resistance. The fight with the authorities of the camp comes to be inevitable.