Roary, crippled by war, and Jerry, a phenomenal basketball player born with a bum leg, hang out at Max's bar in San Francisco, a racially mixed watering hole for the disabled community. Against seemingly impossible odds, Roary and Jerry, with lots of help from their friends, set out to realize Jerry's dream of becoming a pro basketball player.

Inside Moves is often classified as a sports novel, but basketball is merely the backdrop to this human comedy of love and sorrow and the healing power of friendship and community.

Inside Moves was Todd Walton's first novel and caused a sensation when published by Doubleday in 1978. A motion picture of Inside Moves was released in 1980, with a screenplay by Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin and directed by Richard Donner. The movie starred John Savage and launched the acting careers of David Morse, Amy Wright, and Diana Scarwid, who received an Academy Award-nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Louise, the feisty waitress of Max's.

Long unavailable, the movie version of Inside Moves was born again in 2009 with the long-awaited release of the DVD by Lions Gate Entertainment - which has spurred a renewed interest in the novel that inspired the film.