The film delves into a span of two days in the existence of Saul Auslander, a Hungarian inmate confined to the grim role of a Sonderkommando in an Auschwitz Crematorium. Amidst the harrowing reality, a pivotal event drives Saul's desperate mission. Encountering the lifeless body of a young boy whom he imagines as his son, he sets out on an extraordinary task: retrieving the body and seeking a rabbi to perform a proper burial.
As the imminent dissolution of the Sonderkommando looms, Saul diverts his focus from the living and their plans of rebellion. Instead, he becomes consumed by the quest to preserve the remains of a child he was never able to care for while the boy was alive.