British journalist George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) sneaked into Nanjing, intending to make public the atrocities committed by the Japanese army there. However, he was discovered by the Japanese army, and when he was about to be beheaded, he was rescued by a Chinese guerrilla Chen Hansheng (Chow Yun-fat). Hogg also met a foreign doctor in the battlefield, Li (Rada Mitchell). Hogg went to Huangshi and lived with more than 60 orphans. The children were tortured by the war, and they were resistant to foreigners and even disrespected them. But as time went by, Hogg's enthusiasm and kindness still touched the children, and their lives and surroundings improved greatly in just a few months. Fortunately, there was the help of the kind-hearted Mrs. Wang (Michelle Yeoh). Life was gradually on a stable track, and the pace of war was gradually approaching. Hogg, Hansheng and Li decided to take the children to Shandan, a place where few people went. The hardships of the journey and the death of their companions could not stop them. But a disease still hit the lives of Hank, Li and the children...