The film largely tells the story of the expedition itself, but occasionally flashes to the present where the members of expedition are giving evidence in a military court. The enquiry is to determine which members were at fault for the failure of the expedition, meaning that the story is told in flashback as the men remember it. Initially, the soldiers are shown training while a voiceover by expedition leader Lt. Col. Robert Niell (Simon Dutton) tells us that there will be five British Army soldiers, two Territorial Army (United Kingdom) soldiers and three Hong Kong Chinese soldiers on the expedition.