Marino Pacileo, a prison cashier in Naples, is known to most of his friends and acquaintances as 'Gorbaciof,' thanks to a large red birthmark on his forehead. A keen card player, Gorbaciof begins frequenting high-stakes poker games staged by the proprietor of a Chinese restaurant. But he soon finds himself falling for the restaurateur's daughter and when her dad runs into financial trouble begins skimming funds from the cashbox at work, leading him down a treacherous path.