 Somewhere in the near future, exists  the Arena . Here men with an  aggression-gene  with which they want to live no longer, are being admitted to fulfil their wish to die. Through fights to the death, televised by the commercial sports channel, lives are being ended before one s time. Temmink, one of the gladiators, wins his first fight, finds a friend in a colleague and falls in love with one of the prostitutes. He becomes a national hero and loses his will to die. But, once admitted to the  The Arena , there is no return...