Sophie Book, part of a climbing expedition, is sitting on the border watching the sunset over Tibet when she spots a group of Tibetan refugees being pursued by Chinese borderguards and fleeing toward her up the mountain. When the shooting starts, her father rushes towards the ensuing melee. The surviving Tibetan refugees are captured just short of the border and the story follows the expedition leader as he makes his way up the summit, Sophie in pursuit of her father, and the fugitives as they try to escape their captors.