Rocky Balboa is a struggling Philadelphia boxer, until heavyweight champion Apollo Creed comes up with the Bicentennial gimmick of fighting a sure-ringer...by touting the fight as a chance for a "nobody" to become a "somebody" and easily winning the bout himself. But someone forgot to tell Rocky. To everyone's surprise, Rocky trains earnestly. And in the climactic fight sequence, the "Italian Stallion" gets his wish: to go the distance...against all the odds!