Gioia is a repressed high school teacher living under the oppressive thumb of her elderly parents in Turin. Her isolated life is upended when she begins a taboo and fragile relationship with Alessio, one of her students. Unbeknownst to Gioia, Alessio is a cynical hustler who sells his body to support his mother and is using his "seductive yet fraudulent" charms to manipulate her. The narrative, loosely based on a tragic true story (the Gloria Rosboch case), explores the collision of her emotional desperation with his quasi-nihilistic social ambition, ultimately leading to a brutal betrayal and the total destruction of the only genuine affection Gioia has ever known