Roberto Benigni directs, co-writes and stars in this Italian drama. In 1939, young Italian Jew Guido Orefice (Benigni) travels with his friend Ferruccio (Sergio Bustric) to Arezzo, where his uncle has promised to help set him up with a bookshop. Guido immediately falls in love with beautiful Gentile Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), and eventually woos her away from local fascist official Rodolfo (Amerigo Fontani).

Guido and Dora marry, have a son, Giosué (Giorgio Cantarini), and are very happy. However, when war breaks out a few years later, Guido and Giosué are moved to a Nazi concentration camp. Determined to protect his son from the horrors of war, Guido tells him that the camp is all part of a game, and that Giosué's prize will be a life-size version of the toy tank he loves to play with.