A precocious 10-year-old girl learns a bit about chess and even more about life in A Little Game. Growing up in Greenwich Village, Max begins private school at the insistence of her parents, a handyman and a cook who can barely afford the tuition. After a classmate teases her for a lack of chess knowledge, Max wanders into Washington Square Park and strikes up an acquaintance with Norman a curmudgeonly street player who uses the game to teach Max lessons in resilience, perseverance, and how to embrace inevitable change.