Eleven-year-old Tho Pham lives with his family in South Vietnam. He spends his afternoons playing soccer and cricket fighting, but life is slowly changing under the Communists. His parents are worried, and Tho knows the Communist army will soon knock on their door to make his brother, and them him, join them. Still, it shocks him when his father says he’s arranged for Tho to leave, immediately. Tho tries to be brave as he sets out on a harrowing journey toward the unknown.