ACT I
In his apartment in Hempstead, Long Island, Emile Griffith is struggling to get dressed. Suffering from dementia, he is confused and haunted by his past. Luis, his adopted son and caretaker, reminds him to be ready for an important meeting with Benny Paret, Jr.

In the late 1950s, Emile is a young man again in St. Thomas. He yearns to find his mother, Emelda, and make it big in America as a singer, a baseball player, and a designer of hats. Emile moves to New York. When he finds his mother, she is confused, not sure which of her seven abandoned children he is, but overjoyed. Hoping to find Emile a job, she takes him to meet Howie Albert, a hat manufacturer. Howie sees an opportunity: Emile is built like a boxer not a hat maker, and he sets his sights on training Emile as a fighter. Giving up his other dreams, Emile quickly develops into a talented welterweight. Lonely and confused by his success, Emile finds his way to a gay bar in Manhattan. Kathy Hagen, the owner, welcomes Emile to a world that frightens and attracts him. Emile confides in Kathy, revealing some demons from his past. As a boy, his cruel fundamentalist cousin Blanche forced him to hold cinderblocks above his head as punishment for having the devil inside him, a punishment that made him into a man of great physical strength.

In 1962, Emile encounters Benny “Kid” Paret at a weigh-in for their upcoming fight. Kid Paret taunts the charismatic Emile, calling him “maricon,” a disparaging Spanish word for a homosexual. Alone with Howie, Emile tries to talk to him frankly about why this word hurt him so deeply, but for Howie this is something that no one in the fight business wants to talk about. Howie leaves him and Emile wonders what it means to be a man. Emile and Paret prepare for the big fight. Paret continues to taunt Emile, who ultimately delivers seventeen blows in less than seven seconds and knocks Paret into a coma.

第一幕
在長島亨普斯德特的公寓裡，埃米爾．格里菲斯正在費力地穿衣服。受癡呆症影響，他開始在過去的回憶中糾纏徘徊。他的養子兼看護人路易士過來提醒，他與小本尼．帕雷特馬上有個重要的會議，他得做好準備。

二十世紀五十年代後期，當時的埃米爾還是個年輕人，生活在聖．湯瑪斯。他迫切希望找到自己的母親伊梅爾達。他的夢想是當歌手、棒球運動員和帽子設計師，成為美國的知名人物。埃米爾搬去了紐約。當他找到母親時，她有點糊塗了，因為她遺棄了七個孩子，她搞不清楚埃米爾到底是他們中的哪一個，不過她還是很高興。她想給埃米爾找個工作，於是便帶他去見了帽子生產商豪伊.亞伯特。豪伊看到了機會：埃米爾的體型根本不像是做帽子的，倒像個拳擊運動員，於是他一心一意想將埃米爾培養成一個拳擊鬥士。埃米爾放棄了之前的夢想，因為他天賦過人，很快便晉升為一個次中重量級拳擊手。但成功讓埃米爾感到孤獨和困惑，他來到了曼哈頓的一家同志酒吧。酒吧老闆凱蒂．哈根接待了他，把他帶入了這個讓他既害怕又著迷的世界。埃米爾向凱蒂吐露心聲，傾訴了過去一些不堪回首的經歷。埃米爾的表兄布蘭奇是個原教旨主義者，為人冷酷，他說年幼的埃米爾有心魔，因此強迫他將磚塊舉在頭頂上作為懲罰。這項懲罰練就了他過人的體力。

1962年，在一次賽前稱重時，埃米爾遇到了“小孩兒”本尼．帕雷特。帕雷特對基督徒埃米爾大加嘲諷，稱他為“maricon（娘娘腔）”，這個詞是西班牙語裡對同性戀的蔑稱。單獨與豪伊在一起時，埃米爾想與他開誠佈公地談談為什麼這個詞會深深傷害到他，但在豪伊看來，拳擊界沒人願意討論這個話題。豪伊離開後，他開始思考，作為一個男人的真正意義是什麼。埃米爾和帕雷特都為大賽做好了準備。帕雷特仍然對埃米爾極盡奚落之能事，最後，埃米爾在7秒內擊打了帕雷特17拳，帕雷特陷入昏迷。


INTERMISSION
中場休息


Act II
Back in Emile’s bedroom in the present, Emile is haunted by the ghost of Kid Paret, who still questions his old opponent.

In the late 1960s, Emile is enjoying a strong winning streak all over the world. Titles, trophies, and money roll in, but he remains disturbed by the death of Kid Paret. He tries living it up, and, denying his own identity, he takes a young bride, Sadie, although everyone including his mother Emelda, who remembers her own childhood back in the Islands, warns him against it.

By the early 1970s, after the wedding, Emile’s luck seems to have changed. He’s now on a long losing streak and starting to display signs of “boxer’s brain,” or trauma-related dementia. Howie realizes that Emile’s days are numbered and tries to console him, but Emile rejects Howie, as well as his wife and his mother. Instead, he looks for comfort back at Kathy’s bar. Outside in the street, he is taunted by a group of thugs. They beat him violently, exacerbating his brain injuries.

Back in the present, Emile relives the nightmare of the attack. Luis tries to comfort him. “That was long ago,” says Luis. In a New York City park, Emile asks for forgiveness from Benny Jr. Luis tells Benny that since that terrible evening Emile has struggled to find peace with what he’s done and who he truly is. Back at home, the voices and memories subside. Emile Griffith, the former welterweight champ, can now take life one day at a time.

第二幕 
時間回到當下，埃米爾的臥室。帕雷特的鬼魂糾纏著埃米爾，不斷質問著昔日的對手。

1960年代末期，埃米爾在全球取得了一連串勝利，頭銜、獎盃和財富滾滾而來，但他還在為帕雷特的死而心神不安。他嘗試過縱意享樂，還隱瞞性取向，不顧眾人反對，娶一位年輕女士薩迪，就連她的母親伊梅爾達也反對他的做法，她記得自己在島上的童年。

1970年代初，結婚之後，埃米爾的運勢好像發生了變化。他在比賽中屢戰屢敗，而且開始出現“拳擊手癡呆症”跡象，或者叫創傷性癡呆。豪伊意識到埃米爾已經時日無多，便想去安慰他，但埃米爾拒絕了，同時他還拒絕了自己的妻子和母親，反而去凱蒂的酒吧尋求安慰。他在大街上遭到了一群暴徒的嘲弄。他們劇烈毆打埃米爾，加重了他腦部所受的傷害。

時間再回到現在。埃米爾回憶起了那次噩夢般的襲擊。路易士想去安慰他。“這事已經過去很久了。”路易士說。在紐約市的一個公園裡，埃米爾請求小本尼原諒自己。路易士告訴本尼，自那可怕的一晚以來，埃米爾一直在為自己的所作所為感到不安，並努力與真實的自己和解。回到家中，喧囂與回憶銷聲匿跡。曾經的次中重量級拳王埃米爾．格里菲斯終於能安心度過每一天了。