This classic Italian drama, based on the book of the same name by Giorgio Bassani, focuses on the intellectual Finzi-Contini family, Jewish aristocrats who live on an idyllic estate. Siblings Alberto and Micol Finzi-Contini (Helmut Berger, Dominique Sanda) regularly hold parties with their friends, largely sheltered from the growing anti-Semitism in their country. When the Fascist movement becomes stronger, however, it affects everyone in the orbit of the family.