Summer 1944. Penny and her sister, who have lost their parents in a car accident, are taken to live with their aunt and uncle in an elegant villa in Tuscany. Uncle Wilhelm is a striking and idealistic Jewish German: intellectual, lover of music and the arts, and a champion of justice.

The story, narrated through the eyes of Penny, explores the fascinating island of happiness the villa and its unconventional guests create, as well as the dependent world of the neighbouring peasants.

The film chronicles life around the villa – the friendships formed with the children of the peasants; school; religious problems; the growing awareness of a cruel, inescapable reality; the first furtive feelings of love; the magnetism of Uncle Wilhelm – from the summer of ’44 up to the tragic conclusion of a war which will lead to the pointless sacrifice of the entire Einstein family.