In the run-up to World War Two Ernie Wiseman,a precocious and confident child performer is signed up by influential impresario Jack Parnell. In Morecambe pushy stage mum Sadie Bartholomew drags her slightly reluctant son Eric,an eccentric dancer, from one audition to the next until he too becomes a client of Hylton. The boys do not get on at first but Sadie sees a way to exploit their cross-talk and they form a bantering double act as Morecambe and Wise. After war service they become successful on stage and on radio but their attempt to crack the new medium of television is a disaster because they have been forced to accept a script which will make their Northernness acceptable to Southern viewers. They split up. Sadie,however,knows the formula that once worked and pushes Eric,now married to dancer Joan,into contacting Ernie. They decide to reform,on their own terms,into the act that would become one of the most successful television pairings ever.

This biopic focuses on the relationship of Ernie Davis (1939-1963), a gifted African-American athlete, and his coach from 1958 to 1962 at Syracuse University, Ben Schwartzwalder (1909-1993). Schwartzwalder recruits Davis with the help of All-American running back, Jim Brown. The civil rights movement is gaining steam; Davis experiences prejudice on campus, in town, and on the field, sometimes from teammates. How he handles it and how he challenges Schwartzwalder to stand up for his players provide a counterpoint to several great seasons that lead first to a national championship and then to the Heismann Trophy.