Plot summary

Johannes "Jojo" Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is a ten-year-old boy living in Nazi Germany during the later stages of World War II with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson). His absent father is supposedly serving on the Italian Front but has lost all contact and his older sister Inge has recently died of influenza. The jingoistic Jojo often talks with his imaginary friend, a supportive but childish version of Adolf Hitler.Jojo and his best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) attend a Deutsches Jungvolk Hitler Youth training camp, run by the one-eyed Wehrmacht Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell). When Jojo is ordered to kill a rabbit by older Hitler Youth members, he tries to release it and runs off crying after the other boys taunt him with the name "Jojo Rabbit". After a pep talk from Adolf, Jojo returns and throws a Stielhandgranate without permission. It bounces off a tree and explodes at his feet, leaving him with facial scars and a slight limp. After Jojo recovers, Rosie asks Klenzendorf, demoted after the incident, to make her son feel included despite his injuries. Jojo is given small tasks such as spreading propaganda leaflets throughout town, and collecting scrap metal for the war effort.Alone at home one day, Jojo discovers Elsa Korr (Thomasin McKenzie), a teenage Hebrew girl and his late sister's former classmate, hiding upstairs. Jojo threatens to turn her over to the Gestapo, but Elsa warns that his mother would be killed for hiding her. He agrees to keep her safe, on the condition she reveals her "Hebrew secrets" so he can write a book for Klenzendorf, which amuses him. Elsa plays along by making up stories about Hebrew powers, such as mind-reading. Angry with his mother for hiding a Hebrew but unable to reveal his knowledge of Elsa, Jojo accuses Rosie of being unpatriotic and laments that his father is away. Rosie dismisses his accusations and espouses her belief that positive thoughts and optimism are the best ways to be free of oppression.Jojo continues to interrogate Elsa, learning she has a boyfriend called Nathan with whom she wants to reunite when the war is over. Jojo forges a letter from "Nathan" which claims that he has found someone else and wants to break up with Elsa. Hearing her crying, Jojo writes another letter retracting the first one. Jojo and Adolf argue, with Adolf insisting Elsa is a monster. Later, while on one of his metal collecting trips, Jojo spots his mother leaving a "free Germany" message in town. Jojo is home one day when the Gestapo, led by Captain Deertz (Stephen Merchant), visit his house. Klenzendorf also happens to arrive at the house while it is being searched. Elsa reveals herself, pretending to be Inge, and produces Inge's papers and confirms her birthday from memory to quell the Gestapo's suspicions. Jojo is relieved, but Elsa later realizes she recited the wrong date and Klenzendorf covered for her, but is certain the Gestapo will eventually realize the deception. Later that day, Jojo finds his mother has been hanged in the town square. Devastated, he returns home and stabs Elsa in the shoulder, then breaks down; Elsa comforts him.Jojo runs into Yorki, now a soldier, who tells him Hitler has committed suicide and that the Allies are closing in. Jojo encounters Fraulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson), arming and sacrificing children as the battle rages, and she gives him a soldier's coat, before being killed herself in an explosion. Facing the American and Soviet forces, the city's garrison surrenders. The Soviets force several captured Germans into a backyard, including Jojo. A wounded Klenzendorf tells Jojo his mother was a good woman, and saves him by removing his coat, calling him a Hebrew, and spitting on him, leading the Soviet guards to drag him away. The soldiers expel Jojo, who runs away as shots are heard.Jojo runs home and, to stop Elsa leaving, tells her Germany won the war. Recognizing her despair, he recites a new "letter" from her boyfriend claiming that he and Jojo have figured out a way to smuggle her to Paris. Elsa confesses that her boyfriend died the previous year. Jojo tells her he loves her, and she tells him she loves him in a "little brother" way. A disheveled Adolf angrily confronts Jojo for siding with Elsa, and Jojo kicks him out the window. Jojo takes Elsa outside, where she realizes the Allies have won after seeing American soldiers. She slaps Jojo in the face for lying, and then they dance in the street.