A down-and-out artist by the odd name of Ding (Johnny Delgado) is living alone in a hovel, alone except for the cockroaches, that is. Ding's landlady is breathing down his back for the three month's rent he owes, but his paintings at a friend's gallery are still unsold and when he asks his well-to-do brother for a loan, the answer is negative. Just when he is about to give up, the landlady's daughter Socorro (Nora Aunor) slips him some cash, and the two become lovers. When the landlady finds out, she evicts both of them. Ding's fortunes take a turn for the better and before long, he and Socorro are doing quite well. But success has effects on the artist's life that he could not have predicted - he loses a chance to use his paintings to save his friend's gallery from bankruptcy because of an iron-clad contract he had signed, and the pregnant Socorro begins to fade out of his life when he falls in love with a high-class call girl whose demands for royal treatment may quickly drain his earnings. It seems Ding might find success just as difficult to handle as poverty.