1939 - Guido, an Italian Jew, comes to a Tuscan town in search of his fortune. He meets and is smitten by schoolteacher Dora, a gentile; but she is already engaged, to a local Fascisto. Nevertheless, Dora is wooed and won by Guido's clownish charm. But the shadow of bigotry threatens to fall across their happiness. 1945 - Guido and Dora are married, with a son, Giosue. For all Guido's sunny disposition, he cannot ignore the fact that anti-Semitism has become iron law, and he and Giosue are sent to a concentration camp. Begging to be sent with them, Dora is instead confined in an adjoining all-female camp. In the darkest of hours, Guido desperately falls back upon his comedic gift, to try to shield his son from the abysmal fate confronting them. His clowning may be their only hope of survival.