The following version of this novel was used to create the guide: Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame. Chain-Gang All-Stars. Pantheon Books, 2023.

As the novel begins, the reader finds themselves immersed in the hyper-violent world of CAPE (Criminal Action Penal Entertainment), a public broadcast initiative that has turned gladiatorial matches between incarcerated felons into a popular nationwide blood sport. One of these prisoners, a woman named Loretta Thurwar, finds herself slated to go up against Melancholia Bishop, the winningest fighter in the history of the Chain-Gang All-Stars program. Melancholia lets Thurwar win, initiating a long career that eventually puts Thurwar in the position of Grand Colossal—the prisoner, or "Link," closest to attaining her freedom from imprisonment. Thurwar and the other members of her team, the A-Hamm Chain, begin working together to reunite after the murder of one of their fellow Links, a man named Sunset Harkless who functioned as mentor to both Thurwar and her love interest, Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker. At the same time, organizations begin to spring up in protest of CAPE; one of them includes as a member Sunset's daughter, Mari, who is a passionate activist against hard action-sports. While the A-Hamm Chain works to resolve their differences, a man named Hendrix "Scorpion Singer" Young elects to join CAPE rather than continue to suffer under the silent conditions at the New Auburn Re-experimental Facility, where he has been held for most of his adult life.

Eventually, the protests against hard action-sports find their way into the mainstream when an anchor for a major sports network, Tracy Lasser, resigns from her position on air in solidarity with the fighters; she grew up with Staxxx and is appalled to see her friend force to battle to the death for entertainment. Tensions begin to rise within the Chain as well; it comes to light that Staxxx was the one who killed Sunset, straining her relationship with Thurwar that has already been put to the test: it has recently been made aware to Thurwar that in order to gain her freedom she will be forced to battle Staxxx to the death. Thurwar keeps this secret to herself as she works to establish control over the A-Hamm Chain. At the same time, Singer begins to move up through the ranks of the league.

As protests in the outside world begin to pick up, the A-Hamm Chain is put through a series of melee battles and manages to come through it in one piece. Meanwhile, Singer begins to acclimate to his own Chain, Sing-Attica-Sing, which is led by two popular players named Razor and Bells. As the two chains fight for survival, a convicted rapist named Simon J. Craft is tortured in prison by a guard named Lawrence. Lawrence becomes incensed with Craft when he accidentally kills a man in a prison fight (a fight he was forced into so that Lawrence could make money on him) and uses a device called an Influencer to punish Craft, irreparably addling Craft's mind in the process. Craft joins CAPE in order to escape his tormentor.

One night, after a battle, the Sing-Attica-Sing Chain comes back to Camp to discover that Craft is waiting for them. Craft, whose grasp on instructions is extremely literal thanks to the effects of the Influencer, immediately slaughters everyone in the Sing-Attica-Sing Chain except for Singer, who commands him to stop. To the surprise of the audience, Singer declines to murder Craft in retribution. Meanwhile, the A-Hamm Chain arrives at a Hub City for their mandatory community outreach; this typically involves working with a number of vendors to sell products to droves of fans. The city this time is Old Taperville, which is where Staxxx and Tracy Lasser grew up; the protest movement arrives at the gates of the Hub City and begins loudly agitating. Staxxx and Thurwar are assigned to a small ice cream stand, Deane's Creams; the eldest child in the family, Bill Jr., decides to cross the picket line and join the protesters when he sees the way Staxxx and Thurwar are treated. The protest spirals into chaos, and Thurwar takes the opportunity to inform Staxxx of their upcoming battle to the death while the cameras are not trained on them.

Staxxx explains to Thurwar that Sunset warned her of the upcoming battle before he asked Staxxx to kill him. Despite brief anger, Thurwar is able to forgive Staxxx, and they begin strategizing on how to move forward together in a way that will make one of their deaths meaningful. Meanwhile, Craft and Singer become a famous tandem team, as Singer trains Craft to be the perfect fighter; he adopts a reputation of being "unkillable." It becomes clear that, before their death match, Staxxx and Thurwar will be obligated to fight Craft and Singer in a doubles match. In the hours leading up to this match, Mari decides to travel to the arena in order to perform a dangerous maneuver on behalf of the protest movement. When Staxxx and Thurwar enter the arena, Mari hops the fence and holds up a sign proclaiming that all life is precious. She is Influenced and carted off the field before the fight commences. Craft and Singer nearly incapacitate Staxxx, but Thurwar manages to kill Singer, and Craft immediately stops fighting to cradle Singer in his arms. Staxxx finishes him off, and it is announced that Staxxx and Thurwar will have to fight one another the next day. They spend a painful night together before entering the arena the next day and embracing. They fight hard against one another until Staxxx finds an opportunity to kill Thurwar; instead, though, she lets Thurwar kill her.