Plot

Keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Antonina and Jan Zabinski, must save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion in WWII Poland.

As war brews over in 1939 Warsaw, and while life is still running its course, the Germans are gradually making their presence felt, with Adolf Hitler secretly preparing for the invasion of Poland. Under those volatile circumstances, the couple of Jan Zabinski and Antonina Zabinska continue with their daily routine as owners of the Warsaw Zoo; however, their life's work, and the city, will turn to ashes when the Luftwaffe's horrific Stukas begin to hammer the capital. Now, with the zoo liquidated for the war effort, and many of its animals tragically perished, what was once a menagerie, will now serve as a sanctuary, where the pair of veterinarians can hide the persecuted Polish-Jewish people in plain sight. Indeed, that was the dangerous plan of the two altruists, who, regardless of the consequences, refused to wither before the Nazi menace, and sheltered three hundred Jewish men, women, and children right under the noses of the enemy. Will the world remember the zookeeper's wife?—Nick Riganas

Dr. Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh) is the director of the Warsaw Zoo, one of the largest and most prolific zoos in 1930s Europe. He is aided by his wife, Antonina (Jessica Chastain). On September 1, 1939, the aerial bombardment of Warsaw commences as German forces storm Poland. Bombs raze the zoo cages, killing many animals while others escape into the streets. Antonina and her son Ryszard (Timothy Radford and later, Val Maloku) barely survive. As Polish resistance collapses, Dr. Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl), the head of the Berlin Zoo and Adolf Hitler's chief zoologist and Jan's professional rival, arrives at the zoo when Jan is away. He offers to house the prized animals and return them to Warsaw after the war. Heck later returns with Nazi soldiers to shoot the remaining animals. It becomes evident that Heck has developed a romantic interest in Antonina.