Shine is based on the true story of Australian pianist David Helfgott. We see the early, traumatic years of David, a child prodigy whose father abuses him and his siblings with the memory of his childhood in Europe and the loss of his family in concentration camps. Eventually breaking away from his father, David goes to study overseas. He returns to Australia only after suffering a breakdown and is institutionalised. Many years later he is released and through several twists of fate he starts playing a piano in a bar before finally returning to the concert hall.