In 1939, the clouds of World War II engulfed all of Italy. Guido is a Jewish youth who looks clumsy, but is kind-hearted and optimistic by nature. He is full of beautiful yearning for life. He and his friend Ferruccio drove a broken car from the countryside to the small town of Arezzo. His wish is to open a bookstore of his own in the small town and live a comfortable life without any disputes. When passing by a barn tower, Dora, a young and beautiful girl, suddenly fell into his arms from the tower. It turned out that there was a yellow beehive on the tower, and the wasps often harass the local residents. Dora wanted to kill the people and burned the yellow honeycomb, but was stung by the wasp. Guido immediately developed a good impression of her and treated her wounds enthusiastically. To express her gratitude, Dora sent some eggs to Guido and watched him far away meaningfully.
Overcast Italy, the Nazi reactionary forces are getting stronger and stronger. Mussolini is pursuing a tough policy of racial discrimination. Because of his Jewish descent, Guido has repeatedly blocked his application to open a bookstore and was not approved. The work of his friend Ferruccio has also been unresolved for a long time. Due to the pressure of life, Guido had to work as a waiter in a restaurant. His sincere, simple, warm and thoughtful service attitude won the customers' love.
Once Guido accidentally knocked down Dora while riding a bike, the two met again and ignited the flame of love in Guido's heart. He missed the opportunity to confess his love to Dora. Dora is a teacher in a certain school. One day the inspector from Rome was going to inspect the school. When Guido learned about it, he pretended to be an inspector and came to Dora's school to inspect. The principal received him warmly. In order to please Dora and attract Dora's attention, Guido simply jumped onto the podium to show off his talent as a comedian, causing the students to laugh, making the principal and the teacher dumbfounded. Guido learned that Dora and her boyfriend Rudolf were going to the theater to watch an opera, and he also bought tickets to go there. Guido, who was sitting downstairs, kept staring at Dora in the box upstairs.
At first Dora didn't care about Guido's strenuous pursuit, but because Dora hated Rudolph, she often stayed with Guido. Rudolph wished to hold an engagement party with Dora. The party happened to be arranged at the hotel where Guido was located. Guido cleverly freed Dora from Rudolph's entanglement, thus winning her heart. Dora broke up with her parents, ran away from home, and married Guido.
After marriage, good things followed one after another, Guido's dream bookstore opened, and they had a well-behaved and lovely son Joshua. Guido often plays games with his son when he has nothing to do, and his family lives happily. But the good days have not passed for a few years. On Joshua’s fifth birthday, the Nazis captured Guido and Joshua and his son and forcibly sent them to a Jewish concentration camp. When Dora and Joshua's grandmother returned home happily, they saw people go to the empty building and the house was turned upside down. Dora understood what was happening before her. Although she does not have Jewish ancestry, she insisted on going to the concentration camp with her son. Dora was imprisoned in a women's prison. Guido did not want to cast a miserable shadow on her son's young heart.
In the brutal concentration camp, Guido did everything possible to find opportunities to get in touch with his wife in the female prison, and to report to Dora that he was safe, while protecting and taking care of the young Joshua, he coaxed his son into playing a game and obeyed. People with the rules of the game can finally get a real tank to go home. The innocent and curious son believed Guido's words, how he wanted a tank!
Joshua endured hunger, fear, loneliness and all the harsh environment. Guido used games to keep his son's innocence intact. When liberation came, and the Nazis were about to escape late one night, Guido hid his son in an iron locker. Qian told Wan to tell Joshua not to come out. He planned to take advantage of the chaos to go to the women’s prison to save his wife Dora, but unfortunately It was him who was discovered by the Nazis. When the Nazis took Guido past Joshua’s iron cabinet, he walked optimistically and strode forward, suggesting that his son would not come out, but soon he heard a gunshot and Guido who had gone through hardships. Much tragically died at the gunpoint of the German Nazis. At dawn, Joshua climbed out of the iron locker and stood in the yard. At this time, a real tank drove up in front of him, and an American soldier came down and hugged him into the tank.
