Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym) is a rebellious 17-year-old who has a run-in with the law when she and two friends skateboard through a residential construction site. Haley is arrested and is forced by a judge to return to the regimented world of competitive gymnastics. Haley was once considered one of the most talented gymnasts in the US. One year earlier, she made it to the World Championships, but she walked out of competition in the middle of the finals, costing the American team the gold medal and leaving many people hurt and crushed, making her one of the most hated people in gymnastics.
Jonathan Cabot (Thomas) is approached by the Special Intelligence Agency (SIA) to play "the Game". The Game is an athletic competition in the fictional country of Parmistan, a tiny mountain nation which is supposedly located in the Hindu Kush mountain range. Parmistan forces all foreigners to play the Game, which is basically an endurance race with obstacles, all the while being chased by local Parmistan warriors. If a person wins, then they are granted their life and a wish. The SIA wants Cabot to win the game so that he can use his wish to install a US satellite monitoring station, which could monitor all satellites in space and act as an early warning system in case of nuclear attack. Cabot is told that the system could save millions of lives. As an extra incentive, Cabot is also told that his father (who went missing) was actually a SIA operative who was sent to play the game but was never heard from again.
Dan Millman is a university student as well as a locally famous gymnast who dreams of winning a National Championship competition. He suffers from restlessness, and on one occasion Dan attempts to compensate for the restlessness by running along streets before sunrise. At a car-service station, he encounters an old man who seems to know more about Dan's problem than Dan himself knows, whom Dan later nicknames "Socrates". Dan is unsettled by Socrates' knowledge; by the fact that Socrates had appeared in a nightmare as a faceless janitor, clad in mismatched shoes (by which he is identified in waking life), who sweeps up the pieces of Dan's shattered leg; and by the old man's extraordinary speed, agility, and coordination. As a result of his exposure to the last, Dan seeks to learn the secret behind it.
As a young child, Romanian Nadia Comăneci was discovered by domineering gymnastics coach Béla Károlyi. Károlyi and his wife Márta trained Comăneci in their gymnastics school for eight years. Comăneci eventually became a world champion gymnast. In 1976, at the age of 14, she became the first woman to ever score a perfect 10 at the Olympics; she ended the competition with seven 10s, three gold medals, one silver, and one bronze and became an instant celebrity in Romania and around the world. However, the pressure was too much for Comăneci to handle. She was separated from the Károlyis by the Romanian government and became overweight and out-of-shape. She eventually rebounded, though, and led her country to the 1979 World Championship gold.
Un gymnaste hongrois prometteur doit mettre un terme à sa carrière après une importante blessure. Il part alors pour le Canada et y devient entraîneur...
In the Shooting Star gym. McKenna Brooks is practicing her back handspring on the beam. Coach Isabelle Manning tells McKenna that the move she's doing is too advanced. McKenna tries to protest, but loses. Then the coach tells her to just stretch. As McKenna's feeling depressed, her best friend Toulane Thomas comes over and tells McKenna she was great. She then gets on about how the 2 of them will get into the 2016 Summer Olympics. Toulane explains that she'll be on the podium with her gold, and McKenna next to her with her silver. McKenna tells her that she'll get a gold instead. The 2 get back to gymnastics until McKenna's grandma comes into the gym with McKenna's younger twin sisters, Maisey and Mara. The 4 of them leave the gym.