summary...help

Go to Amazon.com and search for the book by the same title. It has a hardback AND a paperback edition. Click on BOTH of these and read the editorial descriptions of both editions, plus the customer reviews. After all that, you will have a very good idea of the synopsis of the movie, which follows the book, basically.

My brief overview: The eccentric Durrell family -- Mom, two older brothers (one a writer, one a 'manly' gunshooter), a beautiful teenage sister, and 10-year-old Gerald -- move from England to Corfu in search of sunnier climes. Hilarity ensues, as various eccentric family members, friends, and Greeks interact with each other, and Gerald with the fauna of the island. Gerald is captivated by the breathtaking animal and insect life he discovers around him, and even befriends a professional zoologist, Theo, who takes him under his wing. The family thrives in Corfu, but eventually, as WW2 looms, the British must leave Greece as the countries will soon be at war with each other ... So the eccentric family, with a menagerie Gerald has amassed from his stay there, move back to England.

Another synopsis:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myfamily/synopsis.html