At the dawn of the Second World War, François Touraine, a great piano virtuoso, has no choice but to go and play in Germany to save the woman he loves, his teacher. Rachel is Jewish in an age that no longer allows it.

Touraine, the youngest son of a bourgeois family, chooses the piano over fencing. Rachel, his poor Jewish piano teacher who introduced him to the beauty of Chopin, also chooses: despite her hardship, she remains his mentor and protector. Told through flashbacks that weave across two decades, the film uses music as the thread that connects hearts, creates families, invents love, and ties a young musician's life to a historical tragedy. Against the backdrop of World War II, it reflects the inner struggles of individuals forced into unwanted choices, highlighting both the physical and the social and psychological violence brought by Nazism, racism, hatred, and war. (Lee Nara)