North Dallas Forty

Wide receiver Phil Elliott plays for a late-1970s’ professional football team based in Dallas, Texas, named the North Dallas Bulls (which closely resembles the Dallas Cowboys).

Although considered to possess "the best hands in the game", the aging Elliott has been benched and relies heavily on painkillers. Elliott and popular quarterback Seth Maxwell are outstanding players, but they characterize the drug-, sex-, and alcohol-fueled party atmosphere of that era. Elliott wants only to play the game, retire, and live on a horse farm with his girlfriend Charlotte, an aspiring writer who appears to be financially independent due to a trust fund from her wealthy family and who has no interest whatsoever in football.