Set in Hungary between the World Wars, "Temptation" tells the story of fourteen-year-old Béla. Escaping his childhood in a village where he had to sleep on straw and work for food, Béla moves with his young mother to Budapest. His aim is clear: He wants to leave poverty behind and conquer the foreign, fairy-tale world that he has come to know as an elevator boy in a grand hotel. When the wife of His Excellency rings for him, he thinks his chance has come.