The legendary hockey players of Mystery are born on skates. And the weekly hockey game on the local “pond of dreams” is much more than a sport — it’s a ritual celebration attended with religious devotion, the only thing that holds the players together. But then an article in a sports magazine prompts the National Hockey League to send the New York Rangers to challenge these local heroes in a “Rocky”-like, back-to-the-roots-of-hockey exhibition game. The publicity stunt thrusts this tiny town and its colorful inhabitants into the national spotlight and promises fame and fortune for everybody.

But the invading corporate circus threatens to destroy the only thing that matters to Mystery: the pure ritual of the local sport. Will the boys of winter transcend the hype and take on the Rangers in a real contest? Or will they become a national joke? The outcome is only a game away.