A twenty-six-year-old man goes broke and must move back home to Chicago to live with his aunt. His uncle secures him a job as a roofer. He only has two colleagues of color, Tyrell, and John. They call him, “The White Hope.” This nickname soon becomes “The White Dope” when everyone sees his poor ability to roof.

Their supervisor, Rick, dismisses John’s claims that he was hired because of his qualifications. Rick and Terry, the owner’s brother, tell John that he is essentially lying and is a bad roofer.

After that, John was not allowed to do some of the dignified roofing work. He confesses to the new man that he is upset by this. He explains that he is an older man with responsibilities and can handle more work.

In November, everyone talks about the Christmas party where there will be drinking and gambling. Rick and the others joke around wondering if John is a better gambler than a roofer. Rick and Terry continue making fun of John to his face. When John leaves to help Tyrell, Rick makes racist remarks about John.

John asks the new man for a ride home one day. They ended up going to John’s friend’s house in a very poor neighborhood to get alcohol. There was no alcohol. Then they go to John’s wife’s apartment. They live apart so they could save more money to buy a house faster. They have fourteen kids. There is no furniture. John loves his wife and his kids.

The crew continues working into the winter. The Christmas party arrives in December. They all get drunk and gamble. Rick brings three thousand dollars. The rest of the crew use their latest pay. Eventually, John is the only one left gambling. Rick continues taunting John until John loses all his money.

Walter, the owner of the business, comes to the party and passes out the bonuses. John and the new man go to cash them in. The new man tells John to go home. John says he cannot go home, and he has to go gamble for his money back with his bonus. He is doing this for his children as Christmas is approaching.

Back at the party, the new guy tries to stand up for John. Rick explains that John is a man and can say no if he wants. John agrees that he is a man. John lost all his money again. The new guy offers John some of his money but John declines. John leaves.

They all talk about how if you lose you lose, and that John is a man. Someone says that John will have a bad Christmas. Rick says that people like John are used to bad Christmases.

The new guy quits his job as a roofer and begins to work at the Field Museum. One night at dinner, he makes a joke about his time as a roofer where he was so beaten down, that he couldn’t save a man from being cheated out of his own Christmas.