Imagine a big sheet. If you place a large object on it, it will bend. Imagine that the sheet is the space-time continuum, and the large object is a star. If, with our sheet model, you try to roll a marble past the object, it will at least curve its path, if not fall into the large object. The same applies to any object in space, even the photons of light. As they go past a star or other large object, they bend. I hope this helped.