The story follows the characters Leo Gursky and Alma Mereminski, two young lovers of Polish-Jewish descent in 1930's Poland. Leo writes a book for Alma titled "The History Of Love." On the brink of World War II, Leo and Alma are split up when Germany invades Poland.

Years later, Leo is a bitter old man that doesn't realize that the book that he wrote for Alma has been printed, and has interconnected the lives of strangers that are searching for the true identities of the characters in the story.