Shoe salesman Marty (Timothée Chalamet) has only one goal in life: to win the World Table Tennis Championships and thus ascend to the Olympus of celebrated athletes, among whom he already counts himself. The young crook puts all his eggs in one basket to take part in the British championships in faraway London, but is beaten by Japanese sports star Endo in the nerve-wracking final. But this is just the beginning of an odyssey that takes the eternally cash-strapped Marty far beyond his limits. Because his dream is a few sizes too big for his uncle's small shoe store.