Hard-drinking novelist Dave Hirsh returns home after being gone for years. His brother wants Dave to settle down, and introduces him to English teacher Gwen French. Moody Dave resents his brother, and spends his days hanging out with Bama Dillert, a professional gambler who parties late into the night. Torn between the admiring Gwen and Ginny Morehead, an easy woman who loves him, Dave grows increasingly angry.