A very poor, crippled man barely ekes out a living while his mother attempts to care for him. He is given a crippled cock to eat, but nurses it to health and some success in fighting. He rejects the offer of a professional gambler to win illegally. The gambler defeats him and then becomes his mentor in cock fighting and cards. A Mexican Ava Gardner sings in the settings where he is and lives with the gambler. Eventually she leaves the gambler, taking his luck to the poor man who then is vary successful materially, but never emotionally. One dramatic sexual scene and later a more degraded one. A daughter from infancy until early adulthood. A primitive life well portrayed. A story to see repeatedly.