Marty Supreme Plot Summary

A table tennis player robs his uncle to fund his championship dreams in London, then spirals through criminal schemes, manipulative affairs, and violent confrontations while pursuing redemption through athletic glory in Tokyo and reconciliation with the pregnant married woman carrying his child.

Ambitions and Desperation

1952 New York City provides the backdrop for Marty Mauser’s divided existence. By day, he works as a shoe salesman at a shop owned by his uncle Murray, measuring feet and selling footwear to customers who likely have no idea about his other life. By night and on weekends, Marty competes professionally as a table tennis player, pursuing excellence in a sport that receives minimal attention in the United States.

Marty harbors a specific dream: winning the British Open table tennis championship and defeating Béla Kletzki, the defending champion. He believes that such a victory would finally bring American attention to table tennis, elevating the sport from obscurity to mainstream recognition. Beyond athletic glory, Marty also pursues business opportunities. He pitches an idea to his friend Dion and Dion’s businessman father about selling orange novelty table tennis balls bearing Marty’s name, hoping to capitalize on any fame he might achieve.

His personal life is equally complicated. Marty is conducting an affair with Rachel Mizler, a married woman who was his childhood friend. Their relationship exists in secret, hidden from Rachel’s husband and the broader community.

Marty’s dream of competing in London requires money he does not possess. He demands seven hundred dollars from his uncle Murray to fund the trip to England. Murray refuses the request, explaining that he worries about Marty’s mother and wants Marty to maintain his stable employment at the shoe shop. The refusal leaves Marty without legitimate means to finance his championship aspirations.

Marty’s response to this obstacle is criminal. After the shop closes one evening, he forces his coworker Lloyd at gunpoint to open the vault, then steals the money he needs for his London trip. The robbery represents a fundamental line crossed—Marty has now committed armed robbery and betrayed his uncle’s trust to pursue his athletic ambitions.

The British Open

London welcomes Marty, but he immediately rejects the accommodations provided for competing athletes. The players’ barracks are deemed unsatisfactory, so Marty instead checks into the Ritz Hotel, one of London’s most expensive and prestigious establishments. His choice to stay at the Ritz on a shoe salesman’s stolen funds demonstrates both his grandiosity and his poor financial judgment.

At the Ritz, Marty seduces Kay Stone, a former actress whose career has apparently ended or stalled. Through Kay, Marty meets her husband Milton Rockwell, a wealthy businessman who made his fortune manufacturing pens. Rockwell represents the kind of wealth and influence Marty aspires to but has never achieved.

The British Open tournament proceeds, and Marty performs exceptionally well. He defeats Béla Kletzki in the semi-finals, overcoming the defending champion and achieving part of his stated goal. However, the final match does not go as Marty hoped. He faces Koto Endo, a deaf Japanese player who uses a sponge racket—a relatively new innovation in table tennis equipment. Endo defeats Marty, denying him the championship title.

Despite losing the final, Marty’s performance attracts Milton Rockwell’s attention. Rockwell offers Marty an opportunity: an exhibition match against Endo in Tokyo before the World Championships. The offer seems promising until Rockwell explains the conditions—Marty would be expected to intentionally lose the match to please Japanese audiences and create a favorable narrative for the local crowd.

Marty declines the offer, objecting to the requirement that he throw the match. Rockwell then delivers a harsh assessment of Marty’s actual status in the sports world. He explains that Marty is already functioning as a vaudeville performer rather than a legitimate athlete. Marty tours internationally with Kletzki as a novelty act performed before Harlem Globetrotters games, entertaining crowds rather than competing seriously. The revelation undermines Marty’s self-perception as a genuine championship contender.

Criminal Consequences

Returning to New York, Marty faces immediate consequences for his robbery. He is arrested for stealing from Murray’s shop, but manages to escape from police custody. He reconnects with Rachel, who delivers significant news: she is pregnant and claims the baby is Marty’s child. The pregnancy adds urgency and complexity to Marty’s already chaotic life.

Marty stays in a run-down hotel with his friend Wally, a taxi driver whose economic circumstances are similarly precarious. While at this hotel, Marty learns he has been banned from competing in the World Championship. The International Table Tennis Association has discovered that Marty fraudulently expensed his stay at the Ritz Hotel in London, charging the Association for luxury accommodations. The ITTA demands a fifteen-hundred-dollar fine before Marty will be allowed to compete again—more than double what he stole from Murray.

A bizarre accident occurs when Marty’s bathtub collapses through the floor of his cheap hotel room, crashing down into the room below. The falling bathtub injures Ezra Mishkin, a mobster who was occupying the lower room. Rather than retaliate violently, Mishkin pays Marty to take his dog Moses to a veterinarian for treatment. The dog apparently needs medical attention, and Mishkin trusts Marty with this task.

Marty does not take Moses to a veterinarian. Instead, he and Wally travel to a bowling alley in New Jersey where they hustle patrons, using their table tennis and bowling skills to win money from unsuspecting gamblers. They successfully raise funds through this scheme, but the victims discover the deception. The angry bowlers later track down Marty and Wally at a gas station and attack them.

The confrontation at the gas station turns violent and destructive. Marty and Wally manage to escape, but Wally’s taxi is damaged in the process and the gas station catches fire. During the chaos, Moses runs away, disappearing before Marty can secure him.

Escalating Schemes

Milton Rockwell returns to New York having invested in a theatrical production designed to relaunch Kay’s acting career. Marty reconnects with Kay and they have sex, but Marty betrays this intimacy by stealing her necklace afterward. He attempts to pawn the jewelry, expecting it to be valuable given the Rockwells’ wealth. However, the pawn shop reveals that the necklace is costume jewelry, essentially worthless.

Rachel appears at Marty’s location with a black eye, claiming her husband Ira has beaten her. Enraged by the apparent domestic violence, Marty confronts and assaults Ira in retaliation. Rachel and Marty then seek shelter with Dion, who reveals frustrating news about the novelty table tennis ball venture. Dion’s father had actually manufactured the orange balls bearing Marty’s name, but Marty never followed up on the business opportunity, allowing the investment to go to waste.

Marty and Rachel steal Dion’s car and embark on a scheme to locate Moses and extort money from Mishkin by returning the dog. They track the animal to a farm where someone has taken Moses in. When they approach the property, the farmer shoots at them, forcing them to flee without recovering the dog. They return to Dion with his car damaged, and Dion throws them out of his home in anger, also discarding the manufactured novelty balls that now represent a failed business opportunity.

Marty discovers that Rachel fabricated her black eye to manipulate him into attacking her husband and providing her with shelter. The deception is the final straw in their dysfunctional relationship, and Marty abandons Rachel. Rachel, now alone and pregnant, tells Ira the truth: the baby she is carrying is not his child. Ira responds by throwing Rachel out of their home.

Desperate Measures

At the opening night of Kay’s theatrical production, Marty approaches her to apologize for stealing her necklace. Kay sees through his apology, recognizing it as self-serving rather than genuinely remorseful. Nevertheless, she tells Marty to meet her that night in Central Park. When they meet, Kay gives Marty a genuinely valuable necklace, providing him with the means to pay his ITTA fine and fund his travel to the World Championship.

Marty and Kay begin having sex in Central Park, but police discover them in the act. Rather than being arrested for public indecency, they bribe the officers with Kay’s valuable necklace, securing their release. Kay offers Marty yet another necklace to replace the one used as a bribe, but circumstances intervene. During the afterparty for her play, Kay receives a devastating poor review of her performance. She breaks down emotionally, becoming too distraught to help Marty further.

With Kay unable to provide additional support, Marty approaches Milton Rockwell directly. He begs Rockwell to revive the offer of the Tokyo exhibition match against Endo. Rockwell agrees to the arrangement but imposes a humiliating condition: before leaving for Japan, Marty must submit to a public spanking administered by Rockwell. Desperate for the opportunity, Marty accepts this degrading requirement.

Violence and Loss

Before Marty can depart for Tokyo, he and Rachel are kidnapped by Ezra Mishkin. Rachel had attempted to con Mishkin by presenting him with a different dog, claiming it was Moses. Mishkin discovered the deception and responded by abducting both Rachel and Marty. Mishkin forces them at gunpoint to take him to the farmhouse where Moses was supposedly found.

The trip to the farm ends in catastrophic violence. A shootout erupts at the property, resulting in multiple deaths. The farmer who had taken in Moses is killed, as are Mishkin and his men. Rachel is shot during the gunfight and wounded seriously. In the aftermath, Marty discovers that the money Mishkin was carrying consists mostly of worthless newspaper clippings rather than actual currency.

Marty rushes Rachel to the hospital as she goes into premature labor due to the gunshot wound and the trauma of the violent encounter. He ensures she receives medical attention, then immediately leaves for Tokyo, abandoning her while she is about to give birth.

Tokyo and Redemption

Marty arrives in Japan only to receive crushing news: he is too late to enter the World Championship tournament. Even if he pays the ITTA fine he owes, the deadline for entry has passed and he cannot compete for the title he traveled across the world to pursue.

The exhibition match against Koto Endo proceeds as planned. Marty loses the match intentionally, fulfilling his agreement with Rockwell to throw the game for the entertainment of the Japanese audience. However, Rockwell plans to escalate the humiliation beyond what was agreed. He arranges for Marty to kiss a pig onstage as part of the post-match spectacle, degrading him further for audience amusement.

Faced with this ultimate indignity, Marty rebels. He announces publicly that the match was a sham, that he intentionally lost, and that the entire exhibition was fraudulent. He demands a real rematch against Endo where both players compete legitimately. Endo agrees to the challenge, and they play again.

The second match is genuine competition, and Marty narrowly defeats Endo, finally achieving a legitimate victory against the champion who had beaten him in London. The win represents partial redemption for Marty’s earlier loss and his various compromises.

Rockwell, angered by Marty’s deviation from their agreement and his public revelation of the fixed match, refuses to provide Marty with passage back to the United States. Stranded in Japan without financial resources, Marty manages to secure a flight home by traveling with U.S. Army soldiers.

Returning to New York, Marty goes to the hospital where his mother is staying. He reunites with her, then finds Rachel, who is recovering from her gunshot wound. Marty confesses his love to Rachel, finally expressing genuine emotion rather than manipulation. He meets his newborn son for the first time and breaks down in tears, overwhelmed by the convergence of everything he has lost and everything he might still have.