Aboard a floating luxury liner, at the very turn of the 20th century, a newborn child is discovered in the aftermath of New Year's Eve, 1900. He is destined to become a piano-playing prodigy who will spend 30 years entertaining the ship's constantly changing roster of transcontinental guests, girdling the Earth more times than he can count, but never leaving the ship during his lifetime. Thus begins Giuseppe Tornatore's ("Cinema Paradiso") magical fable starring the compulsively watchable Tim Roth.