In Italy, gambler and poetry professor Daniele Dominici arrives in the seaside town of Rimini and is hired to teach for four months at a high school, replacing another teacher. His relationship with his partner Monica is in crisis and he spends most of the time with his new acquaintances and gamblers Giorgio Mosca, Marcello, and Gerardo Pavani. In the classroom he meets 19-year-old student Vanina Abati, who is Gerardo's girlfriend, and they fall in love. Their relationship leads to a tragic end.