British journalist George sneaks into Nanjing during the Japanese atrocities of 1938. Unfortunately, the Japanese catch him and just as they are about to send him to meet his maker fate intervenes in the form of local commie chief Chen, who rescues George and packs him off to an orphanage to assist red US nurse Radha. Fleeing from the nationalists' attempts to conscript orphaned boys into their army, they make a hair-raising three-month journey - the first 900km on foot - across the snow-bound Liu Pan Shan mountains to safety on the edge of the Mongolian desert.