Before the age of three, Tenzin Gyatso is declared the fourteenth reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and leaves his family to be raised in a monastery. As he grows up in virtual isolation, the young spiritual leader is coached in the ways of
Buddhism, but remains ignorant to the happenings of the outside world . After the
Chinese invade
Tibet in 1950, the Dalai Lama attempts to dissuade Chinese leader
Mao Zedong from overtaking the country, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. He must then make the decision between staying in Tibet to fight for his people's freedom or fleeing the country to save his own life.