Based on his autobiography of the same name, the film details the long and arduous journey home of Italian prisoner of war Primo Levi (John Turturro), after the liberation of Auschwitz at the end of World War II. A chemist before being captured by the Nazis, Levi is one of the first prisoners to leave the concentration camp upon its fall at the hands of Soviet forces in 1945. However, his route back to his home in the Italian city of Turin is torturous, with stops throughout Eastern Europe.