The treacherous "dark side" of Mount Everest is the setting for this high-stakes adventure, the story of ten men and two women who pit themselves against the "ultimate summit". The ascent is the supreme test of physical and emotional discipline. Yet the mountain, in its otherworldly, ice-sheathed beauty, offers two of the climbers a special promise of release from a haunting past.

The expedition takes place in the Forbidden Kingdom of Tibet, where high in the ruins of rock-bound monasteries, the remnants of a shattered culture struggle to survive in the face of Chinese genocide.