All Marcel Marceau (Jesse Eisenberg) wants is a life for the arts. Working at his father’s butcher shop during the day, the talented mime tries to make his dream come true on the city’s small stages and to win the affections of politically active Emma (Clémence Poésy).
To please her, Marcel agrees to join a dangerous mission that will change the course of his life forever: they want to save 123 Jewish orphans from the grasp of the German Nazis and the ruthless Obersturmführer of the SS Klaus Barbie (Matthias Schweighöfer) and take them across the border to Switzerland.
Together with Emma, Marcel joins the French resistance to stand firmly against the atrocities of the war. His art will prove the greatest weapon against the horrors of war…