As America prepares to pull out of the "forever war" in Afghanistan, chaotic forces are unleashed. Against this turbulent background, infantryman Private Scott Good, narrowly escaping an ambush of his patrol convoy by militants, flees up into the forbidding mountains in the north-east of the country. As winter approaches, how long can he survive, living from hand-to-mouth with such scarce resources, and in complete isolation? When he finds a mysterious and beautiful alexandrite gemstone, he comes to believe it might be his ticket out of poverty, especially as it has a transformative effect on the people and animals he meets in the valleys. But soon events beyond the former soldier's control overtake him and the whole nation, and he is plunged, once again, into a new struggle for escape, this time in the direction of India-controlled Kashmir.