This is the true story of coach Herb Brooks (Russell), who in 1980 had the distinction of having been the last player cut from the U.S. hockey team the last time the team won the Gold at the Olympics (in 1960). Brooks got his chance at being part of a medal-winning team, however, when he led the U.S. hockey team to victory over the Soviets (who had won the medal the last four times: 1976, 1972, 1968, and 1964 since that 1960 U.S. win) at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid despite overwhelming odds. For a country still entangled in a decades-long "Cold War" with the U.S.S.R., the sports victory was seen as patriotic and symbolic of "our side" beating "their side."