In May, 1931, during the British Raj in India, 80 white residents were evacuated to Peshawar because of a revolution. Conway, the British consul, age 37; Mallinson, his young vice-consul; an American, Barnard; and a British missionary, Miss Brinklow are in an airplane. The plane is hijacked and flown over the mountains to Tibet. After a crash landing, the pilot dies. But, he told the four to get help at the nearby lamasery of Shangri-La. They do not know where they are, but Conway thinks they passed the Himalayas and are near the Kuen-Lun (i.e. Kunlun).