A young man struggles to overcome a physical handicap as well as his personal burdens in this drama based on a true story. Matt Hamill (Theodore Conley) was born to a single mother (Susan Gibney) who is told her young son was bright, talented and entirely deaf. Without his father on hand, young Matt turns to his grandfather Stanley (Raymond J. Barry) as his male role model; Stanley encourages the boy not to allow his inability to hear to hold him back and urges him to take up wrestling. Matt shows tremendous promise as a wrestler, but while the sport helps him build confidence and muscle, he isn't sure how to deal with others, particularly girls. After graduating from high school, Matt (now played by Russell Harvard) attends Purdue on a wrestling scholarship, but he's forced to leave school due to poor grades. Matt has an opportunity to redeem himself when his wrestling skills earn him an acceptance at Rochester Institute of Technology, a school with a special program for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. For the first time, Matt has peers who are also deaf, and he makes friends with his roommate Jay (Michael Anthony Spady)) and falls for pretty co-ed Kristi (Shoshannah Stern). But it's a challenge for the life-long loner to open up to other people and admit his weaknesses, and he also has to learn a new way of communicating, American Sign Language, after spending his life as a lip reader. The Hammer (aka Hamill) was based on the life of Matt Hamill, a three-time NCAA wrestling champion who has gone on to become a successful mixed martial arts competitor. Due to its subject matter and large hearing impaired audience, the the film was exhibited as "Open Caption" (with onscreen readable text) in theaters.