The film takes a critical look at the lives of Benedict "hyhy" Lim, Danil "Dendi" Ishutin and Clinton "Fear" Loomis, three professional Defense of the Ancients (DotA) players who participated in the first International, the most lucrative esports tournament at the time.

The documentary focuses on three different players who arrive in Cologne, Germany, to compete in an esports tournament for Dota 2, The International, which will award the winning team a prize of one million dollars.

His father works long hours for a shipping company at the nearby port to support the family, and his mother and aunt disapprove of the time he spends on video games, which has led his grades to suffer.

In order to attend The International, Hyhy must skip his final exams at school, and he feels that only winning the $1 million grand prize will demonstrate to his family that his gaming career is worthy of respect.

Meanwhile, Clinton "Fear" Loomis, an American player from Medford, Oregon, is older than the other contestants, but he leads multinational team Online Kingdom in the hopes that he can finally prove that his life is going somewhere.

[2] Brian Albert of IGN gave similar praise for being emotionally engaging and with a great deal of variety, while also criticizing it for failing to explain more intricate details about Dota 2 for those unfamiliar with the game.