A drama comedy: Guido is a charming, bumbling Jewish waiter whose colorful imagination and playful spirit help him to woo a beautiful schoolteacher. The couple marries and has a young son, but before long their idyllic world is threatened by Nazi soldiers who force the family into a concentration camp. Guido must now use his imagination again.

Starring, in alphabetical order: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Horst Bucholz, Giorgio Cantarini, Marisa Paredes