In 1931, Annalisa is born in Montevetuso, one of Southern Italy's hill cities. Shortly after, Annalisa's mother Annina emigrates with her to the East Bronx, where her husband awaits them.

While Annina adjusts to the customs of the New World, Annalisa and her sister grow up on the city block playing street games and exploring the wooded lots of the then bucolic Bronx. When the United States enters World War II in 1941, life takes on a radical change.

The children get caught up in the war effort, in air raid drills, and in the general hysteria of the times. Through newspapers, radio, and movie newsreels, Annalisa learns of the seemingly endless battles fought overseas and sees images of prisoners and cities bombed and destroyed.

As the war drags on, infiltrating every aspect of life, from popular songs to morals, Annalisa and her friends grow into adolescence, leaving the cozy insularity of the city block behind. Told from the perspective of Annalisa, The Vanishing Generation is not only the story of an immigrant Italian family and the war years but also a social and cultural history of the nineteen thirties and forties.

Old New York City, the Third Avenue El, clanging trolley cars, the fabulous Paradise Theater in the Bronx are vividly brought to life. .