The story takes place in 1348, when the Black Death, the deadliest epidemic in human history, swept through the city of Florence.A handful of nobles are invited to retreat with their servants to a grand villa in the Italian countryside to wait out the plague.To pass the time, they took turns telling each other stories that ranged from witty to debauched.But as society gradually becomes disordered, a promiscuous party in the Tuscan mountains begins to evolve into a life-or-death battle for survival.