SS-Obersturmbannführer Ralf (David Thewlis) and his wife Elsa (Vera Farmiga) move from Berlin to the countryside with their children, 12-year-old Gretel (Amber Beattie) and 9-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield), after Ralf is promoted to commandant of a Nazi concentration camp. Bruno is confined to the front grounds of his family's new home and craves companionship and adventure. He disobeys his parents by sneaking out and trekking through the woods to an isolated, unguarded corner of the camp, where he befriends Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a Jewish boy his own age. They meet in the same spot everyday. Bruno starts bringing Shmuel food and playing games with him through the barbed wire fence. Shmuel gradually reveals to Bruno some of the truth of what is behind the fence, telling him that he and his family have been imprisoned and forced to wear the "striped pyjamas" because they are Jews. On hearing this, Bruno remembers what he has been taught about Jewish people but realizes that Shmuel is not evil and continues their friendship.
Bruno and Gretel get a tutor, Herr Liszt (Jim Norton), who pushes an agenda of antisemitism and nationalist propaganda. Gretel becomes increasingly fanatical in her support for the Third Reich, covering her bedroom wall with Nazi propaganda posters, much to the confusion of Bruno. She flirts with SS-Obersturmführer Kurt Kotler (Rupert Friend), her father's subordinate, as her budding sexuality becomes fixated on the ideal of the German soldier. Bruno remains skeptical of Nazi Propaganda, because all of the Jews Bruno knows, including the family's servant Pawel (David Hayman), do not resemble Liszt's teachings.
One day, Kurt Kotler and Elsa are in the front yard when smoke, from corpses being burned, floats up from the camp. Kurt does not realize that Elsa doesn't know about the Jews being burnt, and says "They smell even worse when they burn, don't they." Ralf had been sworn to secrecy about the camp's true aims and hadn't told Elsa what was happening. Later, a blazing row between Elsa and Ralf occurs. It is insinuated that Elsa revealed who told her about the camp's secret. Ralf interrogates Kotler about his father's loyalty to the Nazi party. This puts Kotler in a bad mood and when Pavel accidentally knocks over his glass while trying to fill it up, he drags him into another room and the sounds of him being severely beaten are heard. The following morning, the family' maid is shown scrubbing bloodstains off the floor and Elsa appears as though she has been crying.
Gradually, Ralf is convinced that the house is no place for a child to grow up and makes arrangements for Elsa and the children to leave the area for a "safer" place with a relative, while he remains to "finish his work" at the camp. The day before Bruno is due to leave, Shmuel reveals that his father has gone missing in the camp. It is implied that he was taken into a gas chamber. Seeing an ideal opportunity to redeem himself for wronging Shmuel previously, Bruno digs a hole beneath the fence, changes into prison clothing that Shmuel has stolen for him, and enters the camp to help Shmuel find his father. Bruno is horrified by what he sees: the dehumanization, starvation and sickness are the antithesis of the Theresienstadt-esque propaganda film that had shaped his prior impressions. While searching for Shmuel's father, they are rounded up with others and marched to "the showers", the gas chambers.
At the house, Bruno's absence is noticed. After Gretel and Elsa discover the open window Bruno went through and the remains of food Bruno was taking for Shmuel, Ralf and his men mount a search to find him. They enter the camp, searching for Bruno. In the gas facility, the inmates - including Bruno and Shmuel — are told to remove their clothes, amid speculation that it is only for a shower. While Bruno changes his clothes, he looks around and notices a man that sees him but then looks away.
They are packed into the gas chambers, where Bruno and Shmuel take each other's hands. A soldier pours some Zyklon B pellets into the chamber. The prisoners start yelling and banging on the metal door. Ralf, still with his men, arrives at an empty dormitory, signalling to him that a gassing is taking place. Ralf cries out his son's name and Elsa and Gretel fall to their knees. The film ends by showing the closed door of the now-silent gas chamber.
Bruno and Gretel get a tutor, Herr Liszt (Jim Norton), who pushes an agenda of antisemitism and nationalist propaganda. Gretel becomes increasingly fanatical in her support for the Third Reich, covering her bedroom wall with Nazi propaganda posters, much to the confusion of Bruno. She flirts with SS-Obersturmführer Kurt Kotler (Rupert Friend), her father's subordinate, as her budding sexuality becomes fixated on the ideal of the German soldier. Bruno remains skeptical of Nazi Propaganda, because all of the Jews Bruno knows, including the family's servant Pawel (David Hayman), do not resemble Liszt's teachings.
One day, Kurt Kotler and Elsa are in the front yard when smoke, from corpses being burned, floats up from the camp. Kurt does not realize that Elsa doesn't know about the Jews being burnt, and says "They smell even worse when they burn, don't they." Ralf had been sworn to secrecy about the camp's true aims and hadn't told Elsa what was happening. Later, a blazing row between Elsa and Ralf occurs. It is insinuated that Elsa revealed who told her about the camp's secret. Ralf interrogates Kotler about his father's loyalty to the Nazi party. This puts Kotler in a bad mood and when Pavel accidentally knocks over his glass while trying to fill it up, he drags him into another room and the sounds of him being severely beaten are heard. The following morning, the family' maid is shown scrubbing bloodstains off the floor and Elsa appears as though she has been crying.
Gradually, Ralf is convinced that the house is no place for a child to grow up and makes arrangements for Elsa and the children to leave the area for a "safer" place with a relative, while he remains to "finish his work" at the camp. The day before Bruno is due to leave, Shmuel reveals that his father has gone missing in the camp. It is implied that he was taken into a gas chamber. Seeing an ideal opportunity to redeem himself for wronging Shmuel previously, Bruno digs a hole beneath the fence, changes into prison clothing that Shmuel has stolen for him, and enters the camp to help Shmuel find his father. Bruno is horrified by what he sees: the dehumanization, starvation and sickness are the antithesis of the Theresienstadt-esque propaganda film that had shaped his prior impressions. While searching for Shmuel's father, they are rounded up with others and marched to "the showers", the gas chambers.
At the house, Bruno's absence is noticed. After Gretel and Elsa discover the open window Bruno went through and the remains of food Bruno was taking for Shmuel, Ralf and his men mount a search to find him. They enter the camp, searching for Bruno. In the gas facility, the inmates - including Bruno and Shmuel — are told to remove their clothes, amid speculation that it is only for a shower. While Bruno changes his clothes, he looks around and notices a man that sees him but then looks away.
They are packed into the gas chambers, where Bruno and Shmuel take each other's hands. A soldier pours some Zyklon B pellets into the chamber. The prisoners start yelling and banging on the metal door. Ralf, still with his men, arrives at an empty dormitory, signalling to him that a gassing is taking place. Ralf cries out his son's name and Elsa and Gretel fall to their knees. The film ends by showing the closed door of the now-silent gas chamber.
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