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"Sophie's Choice" is told through the eyes of Stingo, the author as a young man, struggling to find his feet as a writer in Brooklyn, New York, in the summer of 1947. It tells of his friendship with Sophie, a Polish refugee, and Nathan, a local Jewish man. Through Stingo's friendship with the couple, we learn of Sophie's childhood in pre-war Krakow, her time in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and her roller coaster relationship with Nathan, at turns adoring and loving towards Sophie and best friend to Stingo and at others, a dangerous, paranoid schizophrenic.

The story unfolds in fits and starts, revealing bits and bits of Sophie's life, amidst Stingo's futile attempts to satisfy his sexual urgings and overcome his love for Sophie. The peak of the story, however, is when Nathan goes into a terrible and most violent psychosis, causing Sophie and Stingo to flee from Brooklyn. While on the road, Sophie reveals the choice which haunts her to this day, and how it has affected her life so terribly. Soon after, she returns to Brooklyn by herself, and together, Nathan and Sophie end their lives.