The film is based on the autobiography of Vladislav Shpilman, one of the best pianists in Poland in the 1930s. The main character of the film, Vladek, is engaged in art until the territory of Poland is occupied by the Nazis. The life of all Jews changes: they are placed in the Warsaw ghetto, forbidden to work, humiliated, forced to wear distinctive armbands, and after a while they are sent to a concentration camp.