Venice 1938. Fausto's ambition is to be a film star. Meanwhile he works for the fascist secret police. Elisabetta is being taught how to paint using the techniques of the old masters by her father. And, to her horror, she is being courted by the head of the fascist secret police in Venice. Marcello works in his Jewish family's art supplies shop where he meets Elisabetta and becomes besotted by her. He moves about Venice in his beloved gondola. Three young people whose lives have barely begun when war breaks out and whose integrity and courage will be tested in very different ways when the Nazis arrive in Venice. A missing painting of Elisabetta's will come to hold the key of a pivotal mystery.