Gustave was a student of archaeology in Rome and an officer in the German army during the Second World War. Now, after so many years, he is just an old man who seems to have lost his dignity and his memory. Dr. Carpenti, the geriatrician at the Villa delle Querce nursing home where Gustave is staying, has grown fond of him and his eccentricity. He would like to help Gustave free himself from the demons that torment him, but he does not know how to do so.
Gustave’s anger and pain come from a dark and unclear past, so he can do nothing to expiate his sins but go back to 1938 in Berlin, and
remember his tormented romance with the beautiful Edith, whose only fault was that she was Jewish, and relive the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazi regime. The absurd and puzzling truth that never ceases to devour his soul slowly emerges. Will he be able to get rid of the regret for what he has done, and for the love he could have had?