Evelyn Walsh Warren is named Teacher of the Year and her photo is on the cover of ''Time'' magazine, but she is dissatisfied with her uneventful life. That changes when she goes to Reno, Nevada and inadvertently loses $7000 at the roulette table, mistaking $100 chips for $1 ones. Casino owner Matt Braddock offers her a deal: He will tear up her IOU if she finds out what is wrong with his nine-year-old daughter Diane, who is moping around, not eating and having nightmares. When Evelyn refuses, he suggests they Cut (cards)#As a game for the debt. She gets a king, but he tops her with an ace (by cheating). Defeated, she accompanies him to his home in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.