A love triangle, the past invades the present. Mario, a shy man new in Venice, chats up a crying woman on a bridge. She's Natalia, waiting for a lover gone for a year who promised to return. For three nights, Mario accompanies Natalia, assists her, distracts her, dances with her, and falls in love. He's the present, real; can he pull Natalia into his arms, away from the past and from love for a man who will probably never return? On the third night, just before dawn, it snows.