In the late 1930s, in Ferrara, Italy, the Finzi-Contini are one of the leading families, wealthy, aristocratic, urbane; they are also Jewish. Their adult children, Micol and Alberto, gather a circle of friends for constant rounds of tennis and parties at their villa with its lovely grounds, keeping the rest of the world at bay. Into the circle steps Giorgio, a Jew from the middle class who falls in love with Micol. She seems to toy with him, and even makes love to one of his friends while she knows Giorgio is watching. While his love cannot seem to break through to her to draw her out of her garden idyll, the forces of politics close in.

The story of an aristocratic Jewish family in Ferrara, Italy, in the years 1938-1943, and a way of life now lost forever. The enormous gardens of the Finzi-Contini estate surround the family both literally and metaphorically, and seemingly insulate them from the virulent spread of anti-Semitism in Mussolini's Fascist regime. As Jews are progressively banned from schools, libraries and public places, the Finzi-Continis open their gates to the friends of their children, Micol and Alberto. Giorgio, a frequent visitor, is a middle-class Jewish student who has been hopelessly in love with Micol since childhood. But Micol rejects him and in casual defiance of the "racial laws," begins a physical relationship with Malnate, a brash young Communist, and the only non-Jew in her circle. The group of friends spend languid afternoons playing tennis and romantic games, but beyond the walls of the estate, the Fascists hold menacing parades, and begin rounding up Jews for deportation.