"Ernesto, a 16-year-old boy living in Trieste in 1898, has an affair with a 28-year-old worker simply called "the man". Ernesto subsequently has sex with the man frequently, but after an enjoyable experience with a female prostitute, he stops seeing him. He concentrates on studying the violin, and during a concert, Ernesto (now seventeen) meets a beautiful 15-year-old boy, also a violin player. He is called Emilio, nicknamed "Ilio""--