Basanio is in love with Portia and asks his best friend Antonio to lend him some money. Antonio's money is tied up in a shipment and therefore goes to the despised money lender Shylock. The one condition set into the contract is that if the money is not repaid in time Shylock will extract a pound of flesh from Antonio.

Basanio wins Portia and Antonio loses his shipment. The outcomes are dire and it takes a special kind of person to resolve the situation.

Set in fascist Italy, just prior to WWII and with Mussolini in control and with religious and racial tensions at their peak what more drama would you want.