Middle August in Athens. Three families, living in a three storey building, leave for their summer vacations. Everyone is wishing for a miracle to happen this summer. In the meantime, a drifter breaks into their apartments and rummages their personal belongings, thus unfolding hidden secrets.
In the casino there is only one queen, the small ball that spins on the roulette table. None of the players pays the slightest attention to the female dealers. But Takis, a «perennial» med student, doesn't go to the casino to win millions but to earn a day's wages. Vera works in a gym but trains and gets a second job as a dealer. Her aim is to protect her mother since regulations forbid relatives of employees from entering the casino. Let her Dad knock himself out. There's no way he'll ever play roulette again! At some point, Takis and Vera become lovers. They rig a game at the roulette table, leave the money with her mother and hide out in a friend's house, where their romantic dream soon succumbs to the wretched conditions in which they live. When her father dies of a heart attack in his Jeep, Vera suddenly finds herself with money. At the funeral, the manager of the casino threatens to send her to prison...
Essa adaptação do romance de Louis de Bernier ambienta-se em uma ilha grega durante a Segunda Guerra. Quando a Grécia é invadida, soldados italianos chegam à pequena e tranqüila Ilha de Cefalônia. Um destes invasores é o capitão Antonio Corelli (Nicholas Cage), que no início não quer saber muito dos moradores. Os moradores, por sua vez, também não vão com a cara dos soldados. Mas ele acaba se hospedando na casa do médico da vila e, aos poucos, torna-se amigo de Pelagia (Penélope Cruz), a filha do dono da casa. Quando o namorado dela vai lutar no continente, a atração entre Pelagia e Antonio cresce. Agora, envolvido com os moradores da ilha, Antonio questiona suas razões de estar na guerra. E com Mussolini se rendendo aos Aliados, a guerra toma novo rumo e ameaça o romance entre os dois.
