On the brink of the Second World War Wladyslaw Szpilman is a gifted classical pianist born to a wealthy Jewish family in Warsaw. To this moment the Szipmans belive that the German menace will pass, and that England and France step forward to aid Poland. Wladyslaw still feels safe, too. Only when a bomb falls into studio while he rehearses for a broadcast, he begins to understand the seriousness of the situation. But even at the beginning of the German occupation he still believes himself above the danger. Due to his reputation he manages to get a working permission for his father and finds a supposedly secure job as a pianist in a restaurant. But German means of repression increase. Eventually Wladyslaw and his family are selected fpr deportation into a concentration camp. To escape sure death he hides in a friend`s apartment who one day does not return. From then on Wladyslaw is left to fend for himself. He spends the next several years dashing from one abandoned home to another, desperate to avoid capture by German occupation troops. Finally he receives help from an unexpected side: an SS-officer and lover of classical music helps him to survive.