He marries Maria, but the marriage is a gilded cage. Ivan refuses to sleep with her. He worships her from a distance, sleeping on the floor, terrified that the grime of his reality will taint the perfect image he constructed in the camp. This sets the stage for the "lovers" of the title—a tragic quartet of men who orbit Maria, each representing a different kind of love.

Mitchum provides a veteran presence, playing a man of a harder, older generation who views his son’s sensitivity and dysfunction with a mix of pity and contempt.