Anna is quiet, living with her parents, cashiering at a café bar in Bergamo. She meets and falls for Guido, a Milanese gangster in town to lie low. He pursues her, but also warns her that he's no good. She goes to Milan with him anyway. When she witnesses a Mob hit, Guido's boss wants her compromised so she will never testify against them: Guido pushes her into prostitution. When she becomes pregnant and Guido wants her to have an abortion, she rebels. Can she escape "the life," or is death the only alternative? What about the child?