The original title, Un inetto, was perhaps intended to illustrate the psychology of the main character and, in a certain sense, the pessimism typical of the author.
Alfonso Nitti, a shy young intellectual with literary aspirations, leaves his home in the country where his mother lives to go to Trieste - though the city is not named - and work in a white collar job, as a copy clerk in Maller's bank.
One day, he is invited to the house of his boss and of his daughter Annetta who knows Macario, a young man with whom Alfonso is friends.
Eventually he seduces Annetta but then, on the verge of marrying her, he flees on the advice of Francesca, her father's mistress, who warns him that the marriage would be a failure.
He attempts to assuage his conscience by giving a dowry to his landlady's daughter so that she can marry respectably but, following a demotion at the bank, he accidentally insults Frederico, Annetta's brother, and is obliged to accept a duel.