Four refugees – a fugitive, a warrior, and a couple thrown by chance into each others arms – share the same path although they seek different destinies. Nick Andrews is the sole survivor of an Army Ranger patrol wiped out when they parachuted onto the heads of the Chinese Communist army as it invaded Korea. He meets Soon-ja, a Korean-born, American-educated doctor who is running away from the same war that Nick is running towards. Henry Hatfield is a deserter who is seeking absolution for his crimes by caring for the few survivors of a massacre of refugees in which he participated. Limbu Wotman is a Gurkha scout who seeks an honorable death to join his comrades who fell during a human wave assault on a British regiment. Set adrift on the ebb and flow of war that sweeps across Korea, they help each other find their fates in a land where behind every mountain, there's another mountain.