In 1941 three men walked out of the Himalayas into India. They has survived a 4,000 mile walk to freedom. While there is disagreement on whether or not this is a true story, this film is a textbook example of the "man vs. Nature-red-in-tooth-and-claw" survival film. Janusz, a Polish prisoner of war, is forced to sign a false confession and shipped off to Siberia to rot in the most brutal prison system in the world--the Gulag. In prison, he meets a renowned Russian actor, an American architect, and a hardened Russian gangster. Janusz convinces six of his fellows to accompany him in an escape, which improbably succeeds, and then the real trial begins--a punishing race against the elements, time, hunger, and fear.