After his grandpa dies, Jim Bennett goes straight to a Mr. Lees illegal casino. He plays a few hands of blackjack, winning at first, but ends up owing Lee and a gangster Baraka big time. Both men give him exactly one week to come up with the money. Jim continues his days as an English professor. A student, Amy, is one of the brightest in class but she happens to be waiting tables at Lees casino and she saw Jim went broke. Jim goes to his wealthy mother to ask for money, who rejects him knowing his gambling addiction. He goes to a loan shark Frank, who agrees to loan him the money but at a later time. Jim talks with a student Lamar, a rising star basketball athlete and finds out that Lamar has been hiding an injury. His mother confronts him about the gangsters spying on her house.She gives him the money when Jim tells her the truth about the debt. But instead Jim takes the money and loses it at blackjack while taking Amy out. As time is nearly out, Baraka forces Jim to reveal Lamar's contact info so he can personally force him to to fix the next game. Jim gives Baraka a wrong number and gets beaten for it, but Jim says he will tell Lamar about the game fixing. Jim then acts - he lets go of everything, giving his car to a complete stranger and quitting his job. He takes Frank's money and goes to Lamar's game. Lamar does as Jim asked him to so Jim wins big, with which he repays Baraka. He calls Frank telling him to meet him at Lees casino. He makes an double-or-nothing all-in betting the black numbers in a roulette. The bet pays off and he surrenders the money split two parts to Lee and Frank.