Literature professor Jim Bennett leads a secret life as a high-stakes gambler. All the time a risk-taker, Bennett bets all of it when he borrows from a gangster and provides his personal life as collateral. Staying one step forward, he pits his creditor in opposition to the operator of a bootleg playing ring whereas garnering the eye of Frank, a paternalistic mortgage shark. As his relationship with a scholar deepens, Bennett should danger all the pieces for a second likelihood.
